





^^^' 



^/^/^A 






"'^'-^'^AA 



,^*Aa^W^^- 







LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 


d^ap,- ©ijp^rig]^! l^o. 

! Shelf-.-.-uK-S 


UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 


iU^HHHIBKia 



ir^^wwwt^vv,. 



,/^^r^A/^ 



AAA^AnC^^^^%^' 



>\^/^A'^l- 



OJ^^A^'^^^'^'^^^^ 









j^/^'^or^ 



::i";;^^A«''^^?^^ 



«^"^^;?:v?iji^.. 



AAA^A,' 



--r^/>^ 



^Ar\^0k 









^A^^A>*^^ •^^r^^r^A 



^r\.rsf^/^ 



^^^m^^^^^^^^^^ 



^^.r^mfmf 



^A^^^/^^^^'^l' ' 






./-^/^A^' 



A'^.^^r^r^^r^A^ 



/^OA/^y^^AAA 



errfi^'"*- "--^-^^^C ■■'^^.^^- ■ 






A^::^/^Ar^^/^/^'^A^^f^R-:i'^; 



^^i^.^f^onm 












VINDICATION 



OF 



The True God 



AGAINST 



The God of Moses. 



BY 



/ 
GEORGE E. KING. 



7^7^-^ 



SAN FRANCISCO. 

PUBI^ISHKD BY THE AUTHOR. 
1895. 



^ 



^-^> 



Entered according to Act of Congress in tne year 1S94. by Georsre E. King. 
In the OiBce of the Librarian of Consress, at WasLiugton. 



CONTENTS. 

■ «•» 

PAGE 

Chap. I. The True God 3 

11. The God of Moses and the 

Christians 19 

'* III. The Scheme of Moses 32 

' ' IV. Moses at Mt. Sinai 45 

'* V. How the Sclieme Kesulted.... 54 

** VI. Jesus of Nazareth 63 

" VII. Origin of the Devil, Hell, and 

the Scheme of Redemption.. 91 

" VIII. The Church in Operation Ill 

** IX. Moses and His Traditions 124 

" X. Origin of the God of Moses 143 

'* XI. The Motive of Moses IGO 

' ' XII. Religion and Worship 181 



INTRODUCTION, 



"Forasmuch as many have taken in liand to 
set forth in order" a large number of miracles, 
which are alleged to have occurred during the 
last. thirty-five or forty centuries, and which are 
more or less believed, "it has seemed good to 
me also," being an old man, to examine carefully 
the evidence on which those allegations are 
founded, witli no other possible desire hut to get 
at the TRUTH, and "to write unto thee, Most 
Excellent" Public, the result of my investigation, 
"in order tliat thou mightest know," to a cer- 
tainty^ whetlier to believe tliem or not. 

G. E. K. 



VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

AGAINST 

THE GOD OF MOSES. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE TRUE GOD. 



There is a God, and ''that there is, all Nature 
cries aloud through all her works." Everything 
in the universe shows design as clearly as the watch, 
the steam engine, or any other machine made 
by man. The w^hole animal kingdom, including 
man, is but diversified machinery, most cunningly 
designed and most vsronderfully constructed. It 
^natters not whether these machines were made at 
once and complete by a single fiat of Almighty 
Power, or whether they have been gradually 
evolved from infinitesimal atoms or drops of pro- 
toplasm through a long series of ages. Each and 
every one of those original atoms must have been 
created, and each must have followed the original 
impulse of its creator until his original design was 

3 



4 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

accomplished. The design is still there, quite 
manifest. This clearly proves the existence of a 
designer, a great first cause ; and it is of no con- 
sequence what name we give it, whether Jehovah, 
Theos, Jupiter, or God. It all amounts to the 
same thing. The fact of his existence is estab- 
lished. 

As to the form, mode or manner of his exist- 
ence, or of what or how composed, it is utterly 
impossible for us to know anything whatever. In 
this respect, notwithstanding all that has been 
said and written on the subject, he always has and 
still does keep himself most effectually and wholly 
hidden and concealed. In that beautiful poem 
of Job it is averred, *' Touching the Almighty 
we cannot find him out." And in another place 
the question is asked in a way that furnishes its 
own answer, "Canst thou bv searchinsj find out 
God ? Canst thou find out the Almighty to per- 
fection ? " The fact is as true now as when that 
poem was written. VV^e cannot find out the 
Almighty to perfection. The most we can do is, 
only to reason on the subject, and this is what I 
now propose to do. 

It is generally assumed and conceded that God 
is a spirit, something intangible and unseeable by 
human senses; and this seems to be the most 
rational and plausible conclusion we can think 
of. It may be difficult for the human mind to 



AGAINST THK GOD OF M03KS. 5 

have any definite conception as to what a spirit 
is; an entity wholly devoid of materiality. We 
are somewhat familiar, however, wdth the great 
powers of Nature, which, so far as we yet know, 
iiave of tliemselves no materiality. Such are light, 
heat and electricity. We know considerable about 
them and of their power, but what we know may 
be only as an alphabet or first rudiments as com- 
pared with the great book that remains to be 
written about them. But the mind may now use 
them as a ladder to climb up to some faint idea or 
conception of that all-creating and all-controlling 
spirit that we call God. It may not be absurd 
to suppose even that he, in fact, has a material 
body, composed of the most highly refined essence 
of matter, still more subtle than light, heat or 
electricity ; or even that these very powers them- 
selves are integral and component parts of himself. 

And it is possible that myriads of other spirit- 
ual beings, infinitely inferior and of different 
grades, may exist. Nor is it impossible that the 
souls of men, after they leave the body, may be- 
come just such or similar beings. 

As a necessary consequence and result of his 
existence, this Great Beiag must have something 
corresponding to the idea of dimension, at least, 
as to extent; for he must be everywhere present 
at one and the same time. Let us consider this. 
Take the most powerful telescope, turn it to the 



6 VINDICATION OF THK TRUE GOD 

north, and view the most distant region of stars 
witliin its scope, tlien turn it gradually through 
all the points of the compass, and do the same until 
you come to the point of beginning. You have 
compassed a most inconceivably vast space ; a 
space so vast that light, which travels 12,000,000 
of miles a minute, would require many years to 
cross it; and yet you have not discovered the lim- 
its of creation, but on the contrary at every point 
you have seen convincing proof that there is much 
more heyond. And yet God must be at one and 
the same time at each and every point in this vast 
space, constantly and continually present as really 
as he is here w.tli us. He must pervade and 
permeate every point and particle in this vast do- 
minion. Who can comprehend, what mind can 
conceive, any adequate idea of a being of sue him- 
mensity ? Is this the God which Moses says he 
saw from a cleft in a rock? 

But consider his power. He it is who upholds, 
governs and controls the millions upon millions 
of stars in the universe, whirling with inconceiva- 
ble velocity through space, and yet so as not to 
interfere with each other. He has implanted in 
matter the property or quality of attraction by 
which he counterbalances world with world, and 
system with system, holding every one in its 
proper place and all in harmonious action. And 
what are those shining spots called stars ? Are 



AGAINST THK GOD OK MOSKS. 7 

they mere toys, childish playthings, glittering 
jewels, as Moses supposed they were, set in a 
solid firmament? What strange notions have 
been entertained in regard to them. Even the 
great and so-called inspired Evangelist evidently 
regarded them as insignificant trifles as compared 
with this world ; that a good wind might shake 
them all down upon the earth as the untimely 
fruit of a fig tree, (Rev. vi: 13) implying that 
they might all be gathered in a few heaps in a 
farmer's orchard. An idea infinitelessly less 
worthy of the subject and by far less poetical 
than that of some genius who described them 
as "gimlet holes to let glory through." Until 
quite recent times the earth has been considered 
jis the only body of matter in the universe that 
was of much consequence, and that all the stars 
were made only to give light to it, and for man 
to look at and admire as he would jewels or fire- 
works. That aside from this they were useless 
motes in the Ethereal Blue — mere tawdry span- 
gles on the curtain of night. What horror was 
aroused in the religious world as late as the 17th 
century, when astronomy suggested that the earth 
moved — that it revolved around the sun. It 
seemed to upset the empire of God, and all their 
long-cherished doctrines and theories. But never- 
theless, science established the fact. 

And science has also established the fact that 



8 VINDICATION OF THK TRUK GOD 

all these millions of stars that stud the heavens 
are suns like our sun — many of them immensely 
larger, and all emitting original light and heat. 
And it is not to be presumed that they or any of 
them are useless bodies, mere ornaments, baubles 
without design, and serving no purpose. On the 
contrary, it is only reasonable to suppose that 
each one, like our sun, has a system of planets 
revolving around it, to wliich it furnishes its ge- 
nial light and heat. Then what a mighty family 
of planets: figures could hardly express the num- 
ber. As compared with them, this little globule 
we inhabit is less than the point of a cambric 
needle, the merest atom. And can it be supposed 
that this little atom is the only one in God's great 
universe that is inhabited by intellectual beings? 
On the contrary, the inference is incontestable, 
that all these planets are inhabited by intellectual 
beings, many more or less like man, some perhaps 
inferior and some perhaps vastly superior. It is 
not necessary to suppose that all are created just 
like man either, with like or even similar physical 
organizations ; or even that all require air and 
food to sustain life ; or that any certain degree of 
temperature is necessary. It is within the power 
of God to create livino: beino;s with bodies and 
natures adapted to the planets on which he places 
them. Then what a — . No lanoruaoe can ex- 
press tlie immensity of this circle of intellectual 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSKS. 9 

beings, or the number of worlds they inhabit. 
What shall we say, then? Is this tixe only world, 
and man the only being, that God cares for or 
pays any particular attention to ? Well may we 
exclaim with the sweet singer of Israel, who was 
but an infant in knowledge of the works of God, 
" Wiien I consider thy heavens, the work of thy 
fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast 
ordained, what is man that thou art mindful of 
him, or the son of man that thou visitest him ? " 
What wcfuld David have thought and said, if he 
had known all that modern science has since 
revealed ? Is it possible that this God lived 
over thirty years on this little speck of earth, in a 
human body, under the name of Jesus, and never 
intimated anything about the vast extent of his 
dominion, or about the inhabitants of any of his 
oilier worlds? " 

But let us contemplate the power of God more 
minutely. What he has done in other worlds and 
other systems can be affirmed only as deductions 
of reason, of which we can have no absolute 
knowledge. But let us see what he has done for 
us, and we may presume that he has done the 
same or something like in all other worlds. He 
has generated hghtand heat. He has diversified 
our little planet with oceans, lakes, rivers, moun- 
tains, hills and plains ; has clothed it with verdure 
and adorned it with flowers. He shapes every 



lO VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

tree and plant, tints the blossoms with beauty, 
and gives thein their pleasing perfumes. He 
grows and ripens our fruits and our grains. He 
takes up moisture from oceans, lakes and rivers 
by invisible particles, and with them forms clouds, 
and by his w^inds drives them out to refresh and 
gladden the land. He has probably done and is 
doing like wonderful things in millions of other 
worlds. 

He has devised and constructed the frame-work 
of various animals, including man and" beasts, 
birds, fishes, reptiles, and insects ; provided them 
with pliable joints, bound them together witli 
cartilage and tendons, and clothed them with flesh 
and muscles filled with fibers and nerves ; provided 
within them a wonderful complication of ma- 
chinery, well supplied with self-made chemicals 
for the reduction and assimilation of food, and 
extracting from it proper nutrition, and clearing 
it of all deleterious properties. Add to this the 
respiratory laboratory for vivifying and giving it 
the finishing touch to prepare it to become flesh, 
to supply and renew every part of the ever-wast- 
ing body. He has also endowed them with life 
and the power of locomotion, and above all has 
implanted within them grades of intelligence — 
mental capacity to enable them to look out for 
and take care of themselves. He has placed in the 
head of man a vastly superior mechanism, which 



AGAINST TH?: GOD OF MOSES. II 

enables him to think and reason, and appreciate 
and enjoy intellectual pleasures. A great deal 
more than this is claimed for man. It is a favor- 
ite belief with many, that God has given to man 
an immortal soul that will survive the body, and 
live independent of it, to all eternity. If this be 
so, then let it be considered as among his mighti- 
est works, and his crowning glory. 

Let us also consider (as Dr. Watts says) '' the 
way he works, his wonders to perform." The 
farmer goes to his field, plows it, scatters there a 
quantity of dry seeds, and buries them in the 
earth. After awhile he goes out again and reaps 
a harvest, which is required for his sustenance, 
without thinking of the wonderful process that 
has been gone through with to accomplish such a 
result. If we should visit some of those field;^, we 
might find growing there side by side in tliesame 
soil different kinds of grain ; they may be wheat, 
rye, and barley. To an un practiced eye they are 
not very dissimilar in appearance. The spires of 
wheat select and draw up from the soil the mat- 
ter necessary to produce wheat. The spires of 
rye draw from the same soil appropriate matter 
necessary for the production of rye ; and the spires 
of barley draw from the same soil and select and 
use what is necessary to produce barley. Each 
forms and produces its own peculiar berr}'^, and 
neither can produce what either of the others 
produces. They are all different kinds of grain. 



12 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

And the fruit trees close by, each one draws 
from the same soil the material with which it 
manufactures its own peculiar fruit with its own 
peculiar flavor ; and the rosebush draw? from the 
same soil the material with which it forms and 
paints and perfumes its blossoms ; while the poppy 
close by, in the same way, from the same soil, 
produces its narcotic drug. Now all these seem- 
ingly little things, considering that they are at the 
same time being done not only all over this planet, 
but in millions of other worlds, show as great 
skill, ingenuity, and wisdom, as that which first 
created the heavens. These little kernels of grain, 
these delicious fruits, and these sweet flowers 
which adorn our hills and plains, are really as 
wonderful as the stars which adorn the heavens. 

Take another example : Here is an egg. En- 
closed within the shell is a yellow ball of matter, 
surrounded by a pellucid, gelatinous substance 
called albumen. It might help to make a good 
breakfast, but we will not use it for that purpose 
now, but put it in an incubator, and in three weeks 
a living being inside pecks open the shell, and 
hops out a live, perfectly formed, though scantily 
fledged chicken. It at once seems as familiar 
witht he world as if it had long lived in it : walks 
about looking for, selects, picks up and confidently 
swallows such thinj^s and onlv such things as are 
good for it to eat. It recognizes water, — knows 



AGAINST THK GOD OF MOSKS. 13 

at least some of its uses, — puts its little bill into 
it, and after drawing up a quantity holds its head 
up high to make it ran down its throat. It never 
saw a hen or had any other earthly teacher. How 
did it know what was good for it to cat? That 
it needed water, and that water would run down 
instead of up ? When it has enough it seeks a 
warm shelter, and there nestles and sleeps until it 
either wants something more to eat, or to see a 
little more of the world. Whence all this wnsdom 
and power, but from God, whose creative, life- 
giving poAver must be constantly present, and 
working at every point in his vast universe. 

It seems to be the almost universal plan and 
method of the Supreme Being, that from the most 
infinitesimal, small beginnings, and by gradual, 
sometimes very slow, almost imperceptible but 
sure progress, development and evolution, his 
great designs are quietly accomplished and brought 
to perfection. Hence all the great works that are 
constantly going on within us, and before our 
eyes and all around us, occasion no surprise, at- 
tract but little attention, and, above all, do not 
awaken within us any realizing sense of the mighty 
power and wisdom required and being constantly 
exercised to accomplish such results. 

In this connection let us consider the origin of 
jnan, and the different species of animate nature. 
Until quite recently the theory has prevailed that 



14 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

man and all other animals were created in full 
form, about as we now find them, at once, by a 
single fiat of Almighty Power. This theory, how- 
ever, seems now to be yielding to the far more 
sensible and probable one elaborated by scientists, 
that man and all other species of animals have 
been evolved from infinitesimalji^^f small begln- 
nings.described as primordial atoms of protoplasni. 
Adopting this theory, it must be admitted that alt 
these primordial atoms were created by God, and 
that if he made one such atom he made many, for 
he never acts by piecemeal but by multitudes. It 
must also be conceded that if he made any he 
probably made many different kinds, and many of 
each kind, in different parts of his dominions; 
that each kind was designed and intended to pro- 
duce a distinct and peculiar genus or species, and 
that each one has followed the divine creative Im- 
pulse originally given to it by its creator, and has 
carried out his original design. Hence it is not 
necessary to believe that man has evolved through 
oysters, tadpoles, fishes, reptiles and monkeys ; 
but on the contrary we may assume that he origi- 
nated from that particular and peculiar atom 
originally created and specially designed by God 
for the creation of man. That from this small 
beginning he has passed through many changes 
of form and structure adapted to the peculiar de- 
sign of development ; and that all these interme- 



m 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSES. 15 

dilate forms cind structures have been left so ftir 
beliind, and are so totally disintegrated and de- 
stroyed, that not a fossil remnant can be found. 
Hence all search for the fabulous connecting link 
must fail. The fact that similar organs and struct- 
ures exist in many animals, frame- works of bones 
and bodies, composed of flesh containing muscles 
and nerves, having similar digestive and respira- 
tory apparatus, and that similar appearances de- 
velop in the process of formation, is no proof that 
all proceeded from atoms of protoplasm that were 
alike and the same in every particular; that all 
contained the same ultimate design, and received 
identically the same divine impulse. If we go to 
a machine shop, we will find many different ma- 
chines containing parts that are common to all ; 
and in tlie shop of a carpenter we will find pieces 
of lumber ready formed, which may be used either 
in building a steamboat, a cottage, a church or a 
[)alace. The only fair conclusion, then, is that the 
wise creator saw that similar formations and ap- 
pearances would answer his [)urpose and design, 
as well In the formation and development of man 
as of other animals. There is nothing in all these 
things that militates against the supposition that 
man at first proceeded and was developed from a 
distinct, [)eculiar and higher grade of atoms than 
other animals. And it may be a question whether 
man has yet entirely fulfilled his destiny. It may 



1 6 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

be that he is still in only an embryonic or inter- 
mediate state, and that in the far distant future a 
race of beings evolved from man may arise on 
this planet as far superior to the present race as 
it now is to the lowest type of monkeys. 

This mode of creating animate nature, instead 
of detracting from greatly enhances and magni- 
fiers our wonder and amazement at the God-like 
cunning, ingenuity, inventive power, and skill, 
and his wisdom and power to plan and devise 
ways and means by small beginnings to accom- 
plish such great results. 

It cannot be denied that his wisdom is coex- 
tensive and commensurate with his power ; and 
it must also be admitted that he is a good Being. 
Wherever he has created a want or feeling, he 
has abundantly provided the means for supplying 
and gratifying them. He has supplied delicious 
flavors to gratify the taste, pleasant perfumes for 
the sense of smell, the varied voices of Nature, 
and the harmonies and melodies of music to 
charm the ear, and millions of beauties to delight 
the eye. And he has blessed the mind with the 
power to think and reason, to explore the fields 
of science, and revel among the mysteries of his 
creation. 

But this Great Being, great, powerful, wise, 
and good as lie is, must himself be subject to law, 
— to the laws of his own being, the laws of his 



AGAINST THK GOD OF MOSKS. 1 7 

constitution, the laws of his nature. He cannot 
cliange his nature, or act beyond or outside, and 
in viohition of, or in opposition to, or inconsist- 
ent with, its laws. 

It follows then that he must be immutable, — 
unchangeable. As he cannot chano;e liimself, no 
outside power or influence can change him, or 
turn or vary him from his purpose and objects, 
or influence his actions. If it could, it might up- 
set and overturn his government. Such a tiling 
is impossible. Therefore, " he is the same yes- 
terday, today, and forever." 

It also follows that God must be constantly and 
continuously active, always at work. It is the 
law of his nature, and necessary to keep his cre- 
ation from falling into chaos. It is impossible 
that he should ever tire or need rest, or that he 
ever did rest on any seventh day, or any day, or 
at any time. 

It is also obvious that all created things, ani- 
mate and inanimate, are subject to laws implanted 
by God within them, inherent and interwoven 
with their natures. 

''No man hath seen God at any time," nor has 
he ever by word, or any human language, re- 
vealed or directly made himself, or his will, or 
wislies and desires, known to man. In all these 
respects he ever has and still does keep himself 
most effectually concealed, and therefore it is im- 



1 8 VINDICATION OF THE TKUE GOD 

possible to find him out to perfection. But so far 
as reas.on furnishes any light, such a Being as I 
have attempted partially to describe is the Being 
that must be recognized as God, the great Cre- 
ator and Governor of the Universe. In contem- 
plating such a Being, we may appreciate this lan- 
ffuao-e : " If thou sinnest, what doest thou against 
him? Or, if thy transgressions be multiplied, 
what doest thou unto him ? If thou be ri^hu 
eous, what givest thou him, or what receivest he 
of tliy hand ? " 

"• Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art, 
and thy righteousness may profit the Son of 
Man." Tlie necessary inference is, that neither 
tlie sin or righteousness of man can in the least 
affect God. He is high above us, and far out of 
the reach of our influence. 



AGAINST TH^ GOD OF MOSICS. 1 9 

CHAPTER II. 

THE GOD OF MOSES AND THE CHRISTIANS. 

Without pretending to liave " found out the 
Almighty to perfection,'' I have thus far at- 
tempted to suggest and draw to mind some of 
the characteristics, which every reasonable being 
must acknowledge and admit to be true, of the 
One only living and True God, and cannot pos- 
sibly be otherwise. Now, I propose to show 
what kind of a being mankind, more particularly 
Christians, are and long have been setting up and 
worshipping as God ; contrast him with the true 
God, and show that their mistaken ideas and 
notions on the subject, instead of doing any good, 
have caused more trouble, more crime and suffer- 
inor in the world, than all other causes combined. 

They start with the sound doctrine that there is 
but One only living and True God, but from that 
point immediately run off into a wilderness of 
gross absurdities. For, at the next step, without 
the slightest ground for it in reason, and with 
nothing to support it but the declaration of one 
Moses, they arrogantly assume that man is created 
in the image and likeness of God ; and, as a nec- 
essary corollary, adopt the absurdity, which this 



20 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

Moses tauglit, that God has and is in the image 
and likeness of man. That he is of a spiritual 
substance, has infinite power, and considerable 
wisdom ; but has the same form and all tlie other 
general characteristics of man. That he has a 
private residence, called heaven, up in the sky, 
where lie is attended by liosts of spiritual beings, 
called angels, who perform such duties and serv- 
ices as he requires of them. That long before 
the time of Moses, but much oftener in his days, 
and in the days of Joshua and the so-called 
prophets, he, at times, has left his celestial man- 
sion, and " come down " to visit the leaders of a 
'' chosen people," and personally consult and ad- 
vise with them, and assist them to carry on their 
wars and their government. That the Israelites 
were his favorite people — his chosen peo2>le — his 
own peculiar people — and he was their own God, 
"an enemy of their enemies, and an adversar 
of their adversaries," — that he was not the God 
of, and did not care for, any other people, but 
would gladly assist them to " cut off and destroy 
all other people " that might come in their way, 
or that occupied any land they might covet. 

That in the process of time he became a father, 
by the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, — the only child 
he ever had, and who was very dear to him. But 
it so happened that many of his " chosen people " 
had the temerity to doubt the paternity of this 



AGAINST TH^ GOD OF MOSES. 21 

child, anil then he indignantly ceased to visit them, 
and transferred his affections from them to and 
fixed them upon those only, whether Jew or Gen- 
tile, who would believe that this Jesus was in fact 
his true, legitimate, and only begotten Son, the 
true Christ, and would join heart and hand to help 
hira build up a kingdom on earth. 

On searching: the writino-s of Moses and the 
prophets, the believers claimed to discover that it 
was clear as light that this Jesus was the Son of 
God and the true Christ; that he was alluded to 
in tliose writinors ; that evervthino; about him was 
clearly predicted, and that it was nil contained in, 
evolved from, and was the legitimate and neces- 
sary outcome and fulfillment of the Mosaic dis- 
pensation. 

The followers of Jesus, believing that he rose 
from the dead and ascended bodily into heaven, 
soon adopted the belief which the Greeks had 
taught for centuries, that the soul of man is im- 
mortal, and that there is a "future estate" of re- 
wards and punishments. This is something, how- 
ever, that Moses never thought of, and his God 
did not think to mention it at the interview on 
Mt. Sinai, or anywhere else. Consequently, there 
was no provision made for it in the Mosaic dis- 
pensation. But this new doctrine made it neces- 
sary, in the opinion of the Christians, that there 
should be a great personal Devil and a fearful 



22 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

Hell, and they set to work to supply them. It was 
indeed a great work to be performed, without any- 
thing whatever cither in reason, or fact, or plausi- 
ble tradition to found them on or make ihem out 
of. But the Christians were quite equal to the 
task, as will hereafter fully appear. 

All the Christians have adopted this same God 
of Moses, with his dear Son, as their God, and be- 
lieve that all the stories which Moses, Joshua, 
and the so-called prophets have told about him, 
as they are recorded in the Old Testament, are 
true to the letter, perfectly inerrant and infallible ; 
that it is rank lieresy and a damnable sin to doubt 
it ; and their system of religion is founded wholly 
upon that belief and those assumptions, with such 
additions of Hell and a Devil as they found it 
necessary to make. 

It is interesting to contemplate some of the 
characteristics or attributes which are attributed 
to this man-God of Moses and the Christians, and 
we cannot fail to notice, in passing, that however 
noble and praise w^orthy they may be in a God, 
they were never considered as essential to the good 
reputation or character of man. 

1st. He is said to be a partial God, and the 
fact seems to be most clearly proved, if the record 
is true. For it represents that that God chose 
and selected, out of all the people in the world, 
the IsraeHtes to be his chosen, peculiar people; 



AGAINST THE GOD 01^ MOSES. 23 

announced himself as their God, to the exclusion 
of everybody else ; declared that he would '^ be an 
enemy of their enemies and an adversary of their 
adversaries," and promised to lead them through 
the wilderness to the land of Canaan, and " cut off 
and destroy " all the people that then lived there, 
and give the whole country exclusively to them 
for an everlasting possession. This was partiality 
with a vengeance. Besides, it showed most mon- 
strous cruelty, and an utter disregard of right and 
justice, and all sound moral principle. A God that 
could be guilty of it would deserve execration and 
hatred, rather than praise and honor. The one 
only living and True God could not have been 
guilty of anything of the kind. 

2nd. This man-God of Moses and the Chris- 
tians is represented to be a jealous God, and the 
fact is proved by what purports to be his own 
declaration and confession. For in the second 
commandment he uses these words, "Fori the 
Lord thy God am a jealous God." These words 
are reported to be used in connection with a clause 
forbidding the making of images, and are now held 
to denounce idolatry as a most heinous sin. But 
where is the great harm ? An ignorant people, to 
whom no spiritual being ever revealed anything 
about himself, but who liave conceived the idea 
that some unseen power exists outside of the 
earth, that exerts more or less influence over hu- 



24 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

man affairs, not understanding the art of writing, 
and having no other way of recording or convey- 
ing thouglits and ideas, resort to the making of 
images that suggest to their minds some idea they 
have formed about that unseen being. And this 
is done with the sincere desire of honoring and 
pleasing that being. 

Now, we have a number of little signs or char- 
acters which to us renresent sounds. Take three 
of these, G, O and D, put them together, and they 
form tlie word God, which is an imao^e, that, to 
our minds, represents the idea of a Supreme Be- 
ing. We liave books containing many of those 
images, and in those books we often see beautiful 
pictures, not only of angels, but of Jesus with 
his disciples, or on the cross, or in the act of 
ascending up to heaven. Then, how can we, how 
could Moses, or any good, fair and just being, 
complain or get angry, and threaten to punish such 
an ignorant people, for making imai>es to repre- 
sent ideas concerning invisible beings? There is 
no more moral turpitude in it than in making 
bibles. The true God could not stoop to any such 
meanness, nor could he possibly be jealous of any- 
thing, animate or inanimate, in whatever shape it 
mioht be formed. That commandment was for- 
mulated and promulgated by Moses for fear that 
if his people were allowed to make images, as 
they undoubtedly had been accustomed to do, 



AGAINST run GOD OF MOSES, 25 

that it might distract their minds from him as the 
only mediator between them and the God he had 
set up for tliem, and thus imperil his control over 
them. All the jealousy was in the mind of Moses. 

3rd. This man-God of Moses and the Chris- 
tians was cruel. What he is reported to have 
said and promised in regard to murdering, cut- 
ting off, and destroying the inhabitants of Ca- 
naan, which has been alluded to, and will hereafter 
be considered more at large, is sufficient evidence 
of the fact ; but there is much other evidence to 
the same point. I will mention only one other 
instance, and that, because it was often used in 
my early days to scare children, and gave them 
a horrible idea of God. It is the c^se where it 
is said two she-bears were sent out of the woods 
to tear in pieces forty-two children, for speaking 
disrespectfully to one of the so-called prophets. 

4th. This man-God of Moses and the Chris- 
tians is represented to be a vain God. It is true, 
they do not use just that word in connection with 
his name, but they describe him in a way that 
leaves no doubt of the fact. He likes to be no- 
ticed, is fond of praise, adulation, and worship. 
Like a "• scurvy politician," he delights to have 
his creatures continually " talking him up," tell- 
ing him how good and great he is, kneeling and 
prostrating themselves in abject attitudes, and 
smearing themselves with dust and ashes. For- 



26 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

merly he was highly pleased with the killing and 
roasting of beef and mutton on piles of stones, so 
that he might "smell the sweet savor"; but in 
modern times he is appeased and satisfied with 
humble prayers, singing of doleful psalms, wear- 
ing long faces, maintaining an austere demeanor, 
confessing sins, pleading for pardon, building 
churches, helping him to extend his kingdom and 
to increase his glory. 

It is not possible that the true God can be any 
such kind of a being as this. He cannot be doubt- 
ful of his own position. He is perfectly con- 
scious of his own greatness, power, wisdom and 
goodness, and does not need to be told and re- 
minded of them ; and it is beyond the power of 
man to add to his glory or increase or diminish, 
or at all affect, his happiness. His happiness is 
an ever onward flowing, even current of perfect 
bliss, broad and deep as eternity, and unaffected 
by any outside influence. He has no transitory 
ebullitions of delight at one time, and j^ain and 
sorrow at another, but is always the " same, yes- 
terday, today and forever." It follows that it is 
not possible that he can be influenced by prayer 
or worship, or anything man can do, to change or 
vary any purpose or plan of action ; otherwise, 
everything would be thrown into doubt and con- 
fusion. Therefore, he neither requires or desires 
anything of the kind. 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSKS. 27 

And it is a great mistake to suppose that he is 
more pleased with psahn singing than with tlie 
opcrn, or other good and hvely music ; or with a 
praj-er-meeting, than with a jolly dance ; or with 
a lono; face and austere demeanor, than he is with 
a cheerful countenance, a merry laugh or a lively 
frolic. For diversion and amusement are neces- 
sary for a healthy development of both body and 
mind, and are all included in the grand design of 
the True God to promote the happiness of man. 
Happiness ! happiness ! That is the great end and 
object of life, and of all God's designs. '' What 
he delights in must be happy." 

5th. This man-God of Moses and the Chris- 
tians was a double-dealing and deceitful person- 
age. On the one hand, he urged Moses to peti- 
tion Pharoah to let his people go; and on the other 
hand, as soon as Pharoah consented, this God 
would interfere, and secretly influence Pharoah to 
change his mind and refuse to let them go. And 
it is represented he then made this refusal a pre- 
text for inflicting upon all ths Egyptians cruel 
plagues, such as frogs, lice, flies, murrain, boils, 
locusts, and ending with killing the first-born in 
all their families. This farce was repeated ten or 
eleven times. After this God had thus glutted 
his evil and wicked disposition, the Israelites 
obtained permission to depart. 

6th. But, before leaving, this God of Moses 



28 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

and the Christians had one more mean trick to 
play upon the Egj'ptlans, which was ** to give 
the Israelites favor In the eyes of the Egyptians,'' 
to enable them "to borrow jewels of silver and 
gold, and wearing apparel of the Egyptians," with 
intent to steal and run away with them, and thus 
"spoil the Egyptians," and thus start his chosen 
people In the jewelry and "old clo '' business. 
That made this God of Moses and the Christians 
guilty of all those petty larcenies. 

I present these six several indictments against 
this God of Moses, that has been adopted by the 
Christians, all of which are clearly proved by the 
record, and either of which is sufficient to prove 
that he Is not the True God, and that Moses w-as 
an impostor. I have not gone one step outside 
of the record, but have taken it just as it stands. 
It shows that this pretended God of Moses was, 
either directly or Indirectly, guilty of all the prin- 
cipal crimes known to law, Including robbery and 
murder ; and that he even stooped to deceit, and 
double dealing, and petty larceny. That he had 
no regard for right and justice, and was destitute 
of all moral principle. It Is impossible that any 
of these characteristics or attributes can belong 
to the True God, and it Is obvious that an imagi- 
nary God can have only such attributes as Its cre- 
ator chooses to affix to It. The only solution is 
that Moses, who, with his ancestors, created this 



AGAINST THK GOD OF MOSKS. 29 

God, ascribed to him hfs own characteristics and 
attributes. Tliey are all the ciiaracteristics and 
attributes, not of any God, but only of Moses him- 
self. And they clearly show what kind of a man 
Moses was. 

It is a great marvel how such a God as this pre- 
tended God of Moses evidently was could have 
got such a start in the w^orld, and maintained 
such a sway and dominion as he has for over 
three thousand years, over so many of the most 
intelligent portion of mankind. Reason teaches 
the existence of a great Creator, and knowledge 
of his works has revealed to us what must be 
some of his attributes. All beyond this is only 
vain conjecture. Here knowledge and reason 
meet an impassable barrier. AH beyond is the 
boundless field of fancy, in which superstition 
has plowed and harrowed and toiled and revelled 
from remotest time, but to no purpose. For every- 
thing it has produced is but the offs[)ring and 
flummery of delusive imagination. As it is en- 
tirely out of the dominion of knowledge and rea- 
son, they are powerless either to affirm or refute 
any of its theories. Mysterious infatuations, en- 
gendered by childish ignorance, became impressed 
upon the minds of our very remote ancestors, and, 
with certain modifications made from time to 
time, they have been handed down from genera- 
tion to generation, and prevail at the present day. 



30 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

Reason seems to have no more control over them 
now than it had thousands of years ago, or much 
to do with tliem. A mysterious story gets started 
by some perhaps unknown, but certainly irre- 
sponsible, person ; superstition catches it up, en- 
larges and shapes it, and evolves it into a religious 
doijcma. Til is is the strand source of all religious 
doctrines, and no real authentic account can be 
given of their origin. 

Therefore, the world progresses, becomes more 
and more enlightened in regard to all matters 
that are within the scope and domain of reason 
and knowledge. They work and develop the 
rich surface soil ; while the antique delusions 
which are out of the reach, and are not subject 
to the control of reason and knowledge, and which 
are the barren subsoil, still remain undisturbed 
in superstitious minds. For this reason, supersti- 
tion of all things is the most difficult to overcome, 
and the last to disappear. 

Some people may be surprised to be told that 
Christians now believe in this God of Moses, but 
such is the fact. All denominations of Christians 
still. hold to and worship the same God, in con- 
nection with his reputed Son. The Jews also 
stick to him, but do not believe that he was the 
father of Jesus. The Mohammedans also hold 
to the same God, believe that Jesus was a respect- 
able prophet, but that Mahomet was far his 



AGAINST THK GOD OF MOSliS. 3 1 

superior. All believe in the satne God, and all 
tlie so-called orthodox Christians believe that all 
that is said about hini in the Old Testament is 
literally true, inerrant, infallible, and that it is a 
damnable sin to doubt it. To prove this, I need 
only to refer to the case of Dr. Briggs,of Brook- 
lyn, N. Y. He is a verj^ learned man, and had 
charore of a theoloo;ical institution. lie dared to 
doubt the accuracy of some parts of the Old 
Testament, and for this he was accused of heresy. 
He was tried before the ecclesiastical tribunals, 
and convicted, and is now denounced as a here- 
tic. Those learned prosecutors may think they 
have done a great thing for their faith, and they 
have. They have established a most decided and 
emphatic contempt for it, wherever known. 
About three hundred years ago the sentence of 
Dr. Briggs would have been death by fire at the 
stake, and it would have been so now if the pros- 
ecution had the power. It shows that the same 
old leaven is still there, and that the safety of 
society depend^ upon never allowing religion to 
get control. 



32 VINDICATION OF TH.H TRUK GOD 

CHAPTER TIL 

THE SCHEME OF MOSES. 

MoSES was undoubtedly a great man in bis 
time, an able leader and a slirewd politician. lie 
enjoyed tbe advantage of being educated in tbe 
royal family of Egypt, and tberefore, necessarily, 
as a priest, be was well versed in all tbe mys- 
teries of tbe Egyptian religion, wbicb was pagan- 
ism. Hence, be must bave been simply a pagan. 
He found bis race in bondage, and be formed tbe 
great design of liberating tbem, leading tbem to 
Canaan, conquering tbat country, and tbere build- 
ing up an independent nation. Tbeir forefatbers, 
Abrabam, Isaac and Jacob, lived tbere, and be 
considered it tbe most desirable country be knew 
of for tbe experiment. At tbe time tbey lived 
tbere tbey were but few in number. Wben Jacob, 
on tbe invitation of Josepb, migrated to Egypt, 
be, witb bis family, servants and all tbat accom- 
panied bim, numbered only seventy souls. He 
left a sacred burial place in Canaan, wbicb was 
bougbt and paid for by Abrabam ; but aside from 
this it is not likely tbat be bad title to mucb 
land.' "Wbile be lived tbere, being a just man, 
be was on terms of friendship with his neighbors, 
as Abraham and Isaac also were. 



AGAINST THK GOD OF MOSKS. 33 

The record says the Israelites had been in 
Egy[)t four hundred and thirty years, and during 
that time they had increased from seventy to about 
two millions, and tlie land that Jacob left in 
(Canaan would hardly accommodate that number. 
In those days, the moral right of people to the 
country they Hved in was very little regarded. 
The doctrine that might makes right generally 
[)revailecl, and in this respect, or on any otlier 
moral question, Moses was not at all in advance 
of the age. And, therefore, he conceived the 
idea of conquering and taking possession of that 
whole country, and giving his 2:>eople most exclu- 
sive possession of it. 

His phms were deeply laid and most thoroughly 
matured. Difficulties were foreseen, and the 
means to obviate or overcome them had been well 
considered. He had studied it during the forty 
years he lived in the wilderness with Jethro, his 
fatlier-in law. It was no hastily devised scheme. 
He had been over the ground, and understood the 
topography of all important localities. He also 
understood the people he had to deal with. They 
had been oppressed and degraded as bondsmen for 
ages. They were ignorant and very superstitious. 
He clearly understood that religious superstition 
was the strongest cord that could be used to bind 
such a people to a purpose, and he determined to 
use it to the full extent of his power, and he also 



34 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

determined upon the kind of God he would use 
for that purpose. He knew just when, where and 
how to begin. 

He was eighty years old at the time of the 
exodus, and his high intellectual powers, coupled 
with his gray hairs and venerable appearance, 
commanded attention and respect. And the dig- 
nity and earnestness with which he unfolded the 
design to take that down-trodden race from under 
their cruel task-masters, and settle them in a land 
of their own, " a land flowing with milk and hon- 
ey," aroused their unbounded enthusiasm. This 
was the great scheme of Moses which he studied 
out and planned while tending the flocks of Jethro, 
and it was the motive power and mainspring of 
all his subsequent actions. 

Before unfolding tliis scheme, Moses undoubt- 
edly taught the people the ideas he had formed 
in regard to the God that he would represent as 
their God, and as the greatest of all Gods. Tliey 
must have a God of their own as other people had, 
and a little different from other Gods. He re- 
ferred to some old traditions, (probably manu- 
factured or remodeled them himself to suit his 
purpose, as we have no knowledge of them except 
through him,) about how God made the world. 
All pagans had about the same idea about their 
gods. How he made Adam and Eve, how he 
'* came dowo," and visited and talked with them ; 



AGAINST THK GOD OF MOSKS. 35 

how he "came down" and talked with Noah, 
and employed him to build the ark, and afterwards 
''came down" to Shinar to see about the tower 
they were building. Then he represented him to 
be the special and particular God of Abraham, 
Isaac and Jacob, their forefathers, — that he fre- 
quently "came down" and visited them, and 
covenanted to give to their seed all the land of 
Canaan for an everlasting possession. How this 
God told Abraham that his posterity would be 
stranorers and serve in a strano-e land for four 
hundred years, (which described ^hat had hap- 
pened to them,) but that they would eventually 
come out " with great substance.'' As they had 
been in Egypt a little longer than that, this pre- 
tence tallied with their condition, and the infer- 
ence was that the time had now come to be de- 
livered. 

After thus instilling into their minds the belief 
that this God was in the habit, at times, of "com- 
ing down" and visiting and talking with man, he 
was ready to advance his great and leading pre- 
tence, which governed and colored all others, and 
guided and controlled all his subsequent actions. 
It was the first and leading pretence ; and this, 
with the pretended orders, directions and prom- 
ises of this God, made in furtherance of the 
scheme it unfolds, is the touchstone by which the 
truth or falsity of all his pretences must be tried, 



36 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

judged of and determined. The pretence was, 
that while tending the flocks of his father-in-law 
in the wilderness, this God called to him from a 
bush that appeared to be flaming with fire, inti- 
mated that the Israelites were his own peculiar 
people, and said to him, *'I am the God of thy 
father, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." 
"I have surely seen the affliction of my people 
which are in Egypt, and I am come doioi to de- 
liver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to 
bring them up out of that land unto a good and 
a large; unto a land flowing with milk and honey; 
unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Ilittites, 
and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the 
Hivites, and the Jebusites"; and ordered him, 
Moses, to attend to the business ; that he, Moses, 
pretended much diflSdence and doubt as to his 
ability for such an undertaking but that God 
urged it upon him, and to strengthen and encour 
age him, said, " Certainly, I lolll he loith thee.'" 
So it seems, according to Moses, God was the 
first to suggest and direct this scheme; and that 
afterwards, and in furtherance of the same, Moses 
told them that God said to him, " I will send my 
angel before thee to keep thee in the way/' '* I 
will be an enemy of thy enemies, and an adver- 
sary of thy adversaries, and bring thee unto the 
land of the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the 
Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Ilivites, and 



AGAINST THK GOD OF MOSKS. 37 

the Jebusites, and I will cut them o^." " And I 
will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt 
come." This is the first, the great and all-absorb- 
ing pretense of Moses, and the most important of 
all things in the Pentatuch. It was the first pre- 
tended interview between God and Moses, and 
the bejjinnlnor of his career : the first dominant 
and the most important of all pretences as relates 
to God, and upon which hangs the whole question 
whether Moses is to be believed or not. If this 
story is true, and trutlifully represents the True 
God, then we may believe anything else that 
Moses says. That was the starting point, and if 
true we may as well lay down our arms and sur- 
render, for we are at the mercy of a most fearful 
God. 

To judge of the truth or falsity of such a 
pretence involves an Inquiry into the motives 
which Moses had, to pretend that God ordered and 
directed and promised to assist in carrying out 
that scheme ; and also the right, justice and mo- 
rality of the scheme itself; and whether it is pos- 
sible that the True God could have had anything 
to do with it, as represented by Moses. These 
questions will be fully considered after we have 
shown how the scheme was carried out. For a 
solution of just these questions must determine 
whether or not the Hebraic religion or the Chris- 
tian religion, which grew out of and is founded 
upon it, had any Divine origin. 



38 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

Moses, of course, claimed tliat he was on the 
most intimate terms of friendship with God, had 
constant personal interviews and consultations 
with him, and was acting in all things under his 
advice and personal directions. 

By such pretences he won the hearts and se- 
cured the reverence of the people. They were 
ready to accept his God, and devote themselves 
to his service. He further made thsm believe 
that they must accept and rely upon himself as 
the only mediator between them and God, and 
that all communications must pass through him. 
They must not have any idols, as idols might dis- 
tract their minds from him, and weaken his con- 
trol. This gave him power to say just what lie 
pleased about God, and represent him as saying 
just what it would please him to have God say. 
And Moses undoubtedly used this power in a way 
that he thought would best answer his purpose, 
and help him to achieve the great conquest he 
had in view. It is evident that the Israelites had 
no knowledge of his God, except what they re- 
ceived from him, and that they believed all that 
he said. 

After contending a while with the sorcerers 
and magicians of Pharoah, and beating them at 
their own game, and claiming to inflict cruel 
plagues upon the people of the land, and after 
being favored by his God to steal jewels of sil- 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSES. 39 

ver and gold, and wearing apparel, from and thus 
''spoil the Egyptians," they were read}* to desert 
(heir old task-masters, and direct their steps to- 
ward the happy land of Canaan. They hnd im- 
plicit faith in their great leader and his God, and 
they started off with high hopes and brilliant ex- 
pectations. The caravan numbered ''six hundred 
thousand men on foot, besides children '' — })rob- 
ably many on animals and in carriages. There 
is no mention of women, but it afterwards appears 
there were many. "And a mixed multitude went 
up, also, with them; and flocks and herds — even 
very much cattle." In all, they must have num- 
bered about two millions of people. They were 
elated with the idea that in a /e?/? days they would 
be in ''the land flowing with milk and honey." 

Moses knew better, and he foresaw that that 
disappointment would be one of the troubles he 
would have to meet. They were an unorganized 
rabble, and, even with all the promised help of 
God, they were in no condition to meet and over- 
come such opposition as they would have to face 
in Canaan. It would be necessary to keep them 
some time in the wilderness, to organize and train 
them for the contest. And it would also be nec- 
essary for Moses to furnish some satisfactory ex- 
cuses. He anticipated all this, and he was pre- 
pared to show^ that his God would either help him 
out, or convince them thst he was doin^ rijrht. 



40 VINDICATION OF THE TRUK GOD 

and acting for their best interest. He had got 
them to the plains of Sinai, and that was the 
place above all others that would answer his pur- 
pose. 

It took a few days to reach Sinai, and that was 
enouojh to show them that a march throui^h the 
wilderness was not a mere holiday excursion, and 
the buoyancy of their feelings began to abate. 
There was a scarcity of food, and they suffered 
with hunger, and they missed many other com- 
forts they had been accustomed to enjoy. Their 
views changed. They began to doubt the divine 
authority of Moses, and whether he was quite as 
intimate with God and as sure of his support and 
assistance as he pretended. They had never seen 
any meetings or heard any conversations between 
them. They were not being led the shortest 
way to Canaan, and would not reach there as 
soon as they expected. Their ardor was cooled. 
They were disappointed. They longed for the 
flesh-pots of Egypt, and wanted to return there. 
Their faith in Moses was shaken. They began 
to murmur,and accuse Moses and Aaron with the 
design of leading *^them out into the wilderness 
to kill them with hunger." 

Moses was prepared for the emergency. He 
foresaw it, and Sinai was just the place he had 
fixed upon for making a most convincing demon- 
stration, And to this end he cunningly arranged 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSES. 41 

to have a pretended meeting with God, in such a 
way that it would seem to be in their presence, 
and yet so that in fact they could not tell whether 
there was any actual meeting or not. He ap- 
pointed the meeting to be held upon the moun- 
tain. ^ lie had plenty of confederates interested 
in his scheme, and he and they had been up in 
the mountain beforehand, and had prepared a 
l)lace where he might spend a few days comforta- 
bly ; and they had undoubtedly gathered near 
the top a large pile of brush and combusti- 
bles ready for the occasion. To prevent eaves- 
droppers and curiosity seekers from skulking 
around to see or hear and ex[)osing the deception, 
Moses set a strong guard of his confederates 
around the foot of the mountain, and proclaimed 
the solemn commandment as coming from God : 
*' Take heed that you go not up into the moun- 
tain , or touch the border of it : whosoever touches 
the Mount shall be surely put to death.'' This 
prevented any one from hearing or seeing wluit 
took place up there, and left Moses to tell just 
such a story as he pleased, without fear of con- 
tradiction. 

There is a fact which should have its proper 
vveijxht and bearinjr in considerinoj the account of 
this pretended meeting, and that is, that the Is- 
raelites had never heard or seeo any such things 
as thunder and lightning, as such things were 



42 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

never known in Egypt. About Mt. Sinai they 
were common, and Moses designed to make use 
of tliem to play an important part in Ills farce, to 
terrify his ignorant and superstitious people, and 
make tliem believe all his pretensions. It was 
wliat he calculated upon long beforehand. 

When the appointed time came, Moses started up 
into the mountain in sight of all the people. They 
could see the venerable old man, slowly and sol- 
emnly climbing up the steep grades. His form 
gradually diminishes in appearance, till at lengtli 
a natural turn in his path takes him out of slglit, 
and he arrives at his ready-prepared retreat. He 
stays there until a thunder storm occurs. The 
black cloud moves over, and seems to rest upon 
the mountain. He sets the brush heap on fire, 
the flame and smoke ascend, and the whole moun- 
tain top seems to be in a blaze. Tlie lightnings 
flash, and the more terrible thunders roar and 
shake the ground. The people arc amazed, con- 
founded, awe-struck. They could have no doubt 
that Moses was having a meeting with God ; 
that they were on the most intimate terms of 
friendship with each other, and that whatever 
Moses might say would surely represent Divine 
Will. When he came down, he brought two 
hewn tables of stone, which he said God had 
made for him, and had written upon both sides 
of them with his own finger, what afterwards ap- 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSES. 43 

peared to be the Ten Commanclments. On an- 
other occasion, wlien he went up into tlie moun- 
tain, Moses re[)orte(l that God arranged it so that 
he, in fact, saw tlie " back parts " of the very 
I erson of God. That God would not allow his 
face to be seen by man, as man could not possibly 
endure the glory of it. So God put him into the 
cleft of a rock, and covered him with his hand, 
while the glory of his front 'pavt8 passed over, 
and then took away his hand, so that he saw his 
" back parts." The lightning and thunder, fire 
nnd smoke, to the ignorant minds of his people, 
confirmed as truth all his statements and preten- 
sions. 

But when Moses came down from the mountain, 
he discovered that some of the people had become 
discontented, and clamored for a God, and that to 
pacify them Aaron had made for them a golden 
calf, in imitation, probably, of Apis, an Egyptian 
god. Moses pretended to be very angry. It 
seemed to threaten his supreme power and con- 
trol over the people. Such things would have a 
tendency to distract their minds from him, and 
so weaken his authority. It was necessary that 
such things should be nipped in the bud. So like 
a child with his playthings, he dashed the two 
tables down to the ground, and broke them to 
pieces. It is hardly likely, if his pretensions were 
true, that they were actually hewed out by God 



44 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

{ind contained liis personal autograph, that he 
would have treated them with so much irrever- 
ence and disrespect. This act can be accounted 
for only on the ground that Moses knew that 
there Avere enough more where they came from, 
and he used the incident to impress the people 
that if they persisted in chxmoring for idols, and 
did not obey, and do just as he (Moses) com- 
manded, Giod would abandon them to utter de- 
struction. It had tlie desired effect, and Moses 
easily obtained more tables. 

The question now arises, Is this story of Moses 
about meeting God on Mt. Sinai, true ? Did any 
such meeting in fact occur, or was it only a farce 
and false pretence ? 

The story is the only foundation of the Jewisli 
and Christian belief in divine revehition, and of 
their systems of religion; and, if true, it would 
prove that this partial, jealous, vain, and cruel 
God is after all the real True God. But is it true? 
Can it possibly be true ? 



AGAINST THK GOD OF MOSliS. 45 

CHAPTER IV. 

MOSES AT SINAI. 

In criticising the story of the pretended meet- 
ing on Mount Sinai, it must be remarked: 

1st. That such a meeting would be miraculous, 
something contrary to human experience ; and, to 
entitle it to belief, it requires strong proof — proof 
commensurate with its improbability. We have 
nothing but the word of Moses for it, if indeed 
we have as much as that, for it is by no means 
certain who wrote the account of it. To believe 
it requires not faith in God, as Christian teach- 
ings would seem to imply, hut faith in Moses. 
Here is the great point. Faith, not in God, but 
in Moses, is required as the groundwork and foun- 
dation of both the Jewish and Christian religions. 

2nd. Moses was an interested witness. He had 
a strong motive to pretend that he was on intimate 
terms of friendship with God, in order to secure 
the confidence and control of the peoi)le, and to 
represent God as saying to him privately such 
things as would inspire them with courage and 
resolution to persevere to accomplish his design 
of settling them in Canaan. And it was all in 
his power to represent God as saying and prom- 



46 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

ising just such things as he knew would please 
the peo[)le. 

3rd. The pretences were not designed or cal- 
culated to injure his people, but, on the contrary, 
only to inspire them with confidence in him as 
their leader, and courage to prosecute the work. 
Hence they were quite innocent so far as his peo- 
ple were concerned, and Moses cared for nothing 
else. 

4th. The scene is laid in an early, ignorant 
age, when Moses, (as appears from Genesis, the 
authorship of which is ascribed to him,) as well as 
everybody else, believed that this world was all 
there was of creation — that God was limited to 
it — that he existed in a human fcrm — and traveled 
about from place to place. All such ideas were 
simply heathenish ; and with such* ideas Moses, 
undoubtedly, thought it would be safe to make 
such representations as would help him to accom- 
plish his designs. But they are all inconsistent 
with reason, and cannot be true. 

6th. In such an ignorant and superstitious age, 
and with such beliefs prevailing, a Lelief in such 
marvelous pretences was easily' induced, and tiie 
strong motive Moses had for making them is suf- 
ficient to destroy their credibility. 

6th. The great care and pains that were taken 
to secure secrecy, — exclude all eyes and ears from 
the identical spot of the pretended meeting, — the 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSKS. 47 

guard around tlie mountain, and the penalty of 
death to anyone that touched it, proved that it 
was a deception and a farce. 

7th. The mnnner in which Moses treated the 
two tables of stone which he pretended were hewn 
out b}^ God, and contained tiie very autograph of 
God himself, shows that he had no such rever- 
ence and respect for them as he certainly would 
have had if his pretences had been true. 

8th. There were many people on the earth for 
at least two or three thousand years, and prob- 
ably a great deal more, before the time of this 
pretended meeting, far advanced in civilization, — 
the Egyptians, Syrians, Assyrians, Persians, etc., 
all inquiring and anxious to get some reasonable 
and true idea and conception of God ; and if God 
ever intended to make a particular revelation of 
himself in person to man, it is unreasonable and 
absurd to suppose that he would have perfectly 
ignored, overlooked, and passed by all tliose oth- 
er peoples, and waited to the time of Closes, and 
revealed himself fcr the first time in that wilder- 
ness, and to such a rabble of Egyptian slaves. I 
say the first time, for all the stories about his 
visits to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were fabrica- 
tions of Moses. There is no other proof of any 
visits to them but his word. Beside, his visits to 
them as described were for frivolous purposes; 
there was no revelation made to them of interest 



48 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

to mankind, — notlilng but tliat tlieir seed was to 
have the land of Canaan. As we can easily see 
liis motive and design, we must discredit the rep- 
resentations. 

9th If God ever intended to make a personal 
revelation of himself to man, and it was impor- 
tant, and he required and intended to have it be- 
lieved, he would not liave made it so secretly to 
one man, and made the belief of it to depend 
wholly upon the credibility of that one man : all 
to depend as it does exclusively upon faith in 
Moses^ who had a strong personal motive and in- 
terest to deceive and make false pretences. It 
was just as easy for God to proclaim himself pub- 
licly and directly to the whole assembly on the 
plain, or to every inhabitant on earth at once, to 
the Egyptians, Assyrians, etc., who were anxious 
to learn, and then there could have been no doubt. 
Then we could have faith in God. As it now 
stands, all there is to depend upon is faith in 
Moses. All depends upon faith in Moses. 

10th. The pretence of Moses, that he actually 
saw the ''back parts" of the person of God, as 
related in the thirtj^-third chapter of Exodus, and 
representing him to have a human form, with 
fjice, feet, hands and back parts, is an obvious 
falsehood, and characterizes all his other pre- 
tences. This alone proves that he was an impos 
tor, and unworthy of belief. 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSKS. 49 

11th. But there is another and very important 
test, wliich shows tliat tlie pretence of Moses in 
regard to having a personal interview witli God 
on Mount Sinai, and there receiving revelations 
from him, was false ; and that is the fact that the 
revelation he pretended to receive contained noth- 
ing of importance to manhind that was then new 
to the world. All the sound moral precepts con- 
tained in the decalogue had been established law, 
wherever mankind was formed into society, for 
thousands of years before Moses ever saw Mount 
Sinai. These things required no special revela- 
tion, for they were originally implanted or incor- 
porated in the nature of man, and had long been 
developed by the reason with which God also 
originally endowed man. Moses put them into a 
concise, tangible and useful shape, as he was fully 
competent to do ; for they were a necessary part of 
his education as an Egyptian priest, and he per- 
fectly understood them. AAHien he murdered the 
Egyptian, he knew what the penalty would be, if 
discovered. Hence, he fled to the wilderness, 
where he lived with Jethro forty years before lie 
pretended that God noticed him. There was 
nothing in this decalogue, or any revelation Moses 
pretended to receive, which was important for man 
to know, that had not been well known for ages. 
There was no revelation in regard to any future 
state, what would become of man after this life. 



50 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

All rewards and punishments spoken of in the 
decalogue are confined to this life. There is not 
the slightest intimation about any future existence, 
or about a hell, or a devil, or any scheme of sal- 
vation which Christians now claim to believe — 
nothing at all, except what was then within the 
knowledge of man and well understood. Moses 
was cunninor enouoh to confine the revelations to 
what was within his own knowledge, which in ef- 
fect makes it no revelation at all. And in tlie 
interviews which Moses fabricated, and pretended 
that God had with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, 
there is no allusion to any of these things. The 
only revelation made to them w^as that their seed 
should have the land of Canaan. And thi-s was 
taught by Moses to make his people believe that 
they had a divine right to it, and to induce them 
to fight for it. 

I said there was nothing of importance in the 
decalogue that was new to the world. However, 
there were two or three ??e?r things in it. The 
first commandment explained by its context was 
decidedly new. It reads as follows: "And God 
spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy 
God, which have brought tJtee out of the land of 
Egypt, and out of the house of bondage. Thou 
shalt have no other gods before me." This pur- 
ports to be a solemn declaration of God himself, 
that he was their God — the God of the Israelites. 



AGAINST THK GOD OF MOSKS. 5 1 

He is represented as addressing the people lie 
had brought out of the land of Egypt, and out of 
the house of bondage. He had brought no other 
people out of Egypt and the house of bondage ; 
hence, it is evident that this declaration was in- 
tended for the Israelites exclusively. And, as it 
is represented that he afterwards told them that 
he would be an " enemy of their enemies, and an 
adversary of their adversaries,'' and would lead 
them to the land of Canaan, and " cut off and de- 
stroy" all other people for their benefit, we must 
conclude that it was intended to be understood 
that he was most particularly, emphatically, and 
exclusively their own God, and that he did not 
care for, — was not the God of any other people. 
This was, indeed, a new revelation. But it is 
manifestly false and absurd as to the True God, 
and proves that Moses was imposing a falsehood 
upon his people. For the True God is the God 
of all mankind, without distinction or partiality. 

The second commandment, in spirit and real 
meaning, is unworthy of God or man, as I have 
previously attempted to show. It was instigated 
by the jealousy of Moses, to remove everything 
that might have a tendency to distract and divert 
the minds of the people from him, and thus en- 
danger his entire control over them. 

As to the fourth commandment, the Assyrians 
and other Eastern people kept the seventh day 



52 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

from time immemorial. The reason they as- 
signed was, that it was supposed to be presided 
over by Saturn, whom they considered to be a 
gloomy god, and therefore they regarded it as an 
unlucky day. For that reason they would not 
perform any labor on that day, or engage in any 
enterprise. The kings would not ride out on that 
day, for fear something might happen to them. 
So all staid at home, and kept it as a feast day. 
But a day of rest from labor, as often as one in 
seven, and strictly guarded by law, to be kept as 
a day "made for man," and not as a day for 
which man was made, would be a wise provision. 
To be of any use to man, however, it should be 
devoted to whatever may best tend to rest and 
relax the mind, as well as the body, from the 
drudgery of labor. And this would include in- 
tellectual entertainments mingled with healthy 
diversions, amusements, social gatherings, and 
whatever may tend to promote happiness — the 
great end and object of life. So far as the Sabbath 
mentioned in the fourth commandment would de^ 
viate from this, it could never be approved by the 
True God. 

12th. The fact that Moses pretended that God 
on Mt. Sinai gave him the plan and all the minute 
specifications for making the Tabernacle and the 
Ark of the Covenant, is further evidence of the 
faLity of his pretences about meeting and talking 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSK.*^>. 53 

with God on Mt. Sinai. For it is proved that 
the Tabernacle was patterned exactly after the 
plan of the Egj'ptian temples, and the Ark also 
was patterned after certain chests or boxes that 
were used in the temples for keeping their sacred 
archives, — with all which Moses, as an Egyptian 
priest, was perfectly familiar. 

Considering, then, the age in which this pre- 
tended meeting on Mt. Sinai is said to have oc- 
curred ; the miraculousness and improbability of 
it ; that there is no evidence of it but the w^ord 
of Moses ; the belief Moses then had in regard to 
creation and of God, — which will be enlarged 
upon hereafter, — that God existed in a human 
form ; his declaration about seeing the person of 
God ; the general nature of the pretences ; the 
strong motive he had for making them ; the 
power he had to make them falsely, without the 
fear of detection ; that they were calculated to 
please his people ; the readiness with which such an 
ignorant people would believe marvelous and su- 
pernatural stories ; the parade and ostentation 
with which he went up into the carefully and 
securely guarded mountain, quite out of sight, 
and using the natural action of the elements to 
contribute wonder and to support the deception ; 
the fact that the pretended revelation contained 
notliino" but gross absurdities, that were then 
new to the world ; the irreverent manner witii 



54 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

which lie treated what he clahned to be the very 
autograph of God himself, and his pretence of 
having received the plans and specifications for 
making the Tabernacle and the Ark directly from 
God ; — taking all these things together, we must 
conclude that the pretences about meeting God 
in person on Mt. Sinai are false ; that it was all 
deception, — a stupendous farce. 



CHAPTER V. 

HOW THE SCHEMP: RESULTED. 

After Moses, by his farcical demonstrations, 
had convinced his people, to their satisfaction, 
that he was on terms of intimate personal friend- 
ship and daily companionship with God, and all 
doubts as to the truth of what he told them about 
God were silenced, he turned his attention to the 
two great and principal pieces of work that were 
necessary to carry out his design. One was to 
establish a system of religious worship, which 
would solidify his power and secure his control, 
and at the same time furnish a National. religion, 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSES. 55 

and have them well drilled in It before they were 
scattered over Canaan ; and the other was to or- 
ganize an army capable of performing th.e bloody 
work he had marked out for tiiem. And both 
were carried on simultaneously. 

His system of worship was organized upon the 
plan of having a large and influential body of peo- 
ple, each and all personally interested, to advo- 
cate, promote, and build up the system. To this 
end he established a priesthood, to attend to the 
strictly devotional part of the business, and ap- 
pointed his brother Aaron and all his male de- 
scendants a permanent priesthood ; and as polyg- 
amy was not forbidden, that class after a vih'ile 
became quite numerous. Next, he detailed all 
the descendants of Levi as a permanent order of 
levites, to assist the priests In various more or 
less menial devotional labors, and this class alone, 
when the census was taken about a year after 
they left Egypt, numbered over twenty-two thou- 
sand. 

To provide for the support of this large body 
of priests and levites, Moses devised a system of 
sacrifices, as heathen nations had done before 
him ; and the people, partly by legal require- 
ments, and partly by superstitious devotion, were 
induced to contribute beef, mutton, corn, oil, and 
wine (all must be of the very best quality,) and 
those that had none of these thincrs could com- 



56 VINDICATION OK THE TRUE GOD 

pound with money. All were theoretically free 
offerings, to be destroyed to please and appease 
God, but practically to feed and support the 
priests and levites. While tlie beef and mutton 
were beinor cooked, the " Lord mi^ht smell the 
sweet savor," but tlie priests and levites ate the 
meat. So that large body were employed to 
support themselves by supporting the system. 
Of course, it at once became their pleasing duty, 
as it so exactly coincided with their personal in- 
terest to advocate all the pretences of Moses, 
and guard the system against innovation, — see 
that the superstitions of the people were kept up 
to fever heat, so that they would not flag in their 
offerings ; and pay particular attention to seeing 
that all tlie children were fully educated in the 
same faith. It was all a cunningly devised 
scheme to support the supporters of the system. 
But what are we to think of the main feature 
of that system of worship — the sacrifices f What 
are we to think of that mode and manner of wor- 
shipping an intelligent God ? How can any ra- 
tional beings, unless steeped in ignorance and 
superstition, and destitute of any reasonable idea 
of God, suppose or believe that he could be honored 
or pleased by having dumb brutes butchered and 
burned or roasted on piles of stones ? As an act 
of worship of God, it is supremely ridiculous. 
Does it not show at once that the worship of God 



AGAINST THK GOD OF MOSKS. 57 

had nothing to do with it, but that it was only 
a cunning scheme to support the pvlc^ts and le- 
vltes, — that that was the true and only reason for 
it, — and that they were thus supported to secure 
and bind tliem to advocate and support the sys- 
tem and pretences of Moses? Is it not clejir 
that it was all a deception, and a fraud upon the 
people ? 

The other business that Moses had on hand at 
Sinai was to organize an army. And this was the 
most important and necessary of all things that he 
had to do. For notwithstanding all the promises 
of assistance from God, which he pretended to 
have, and wdiich would have been amply sufficient 
if true, he was too cunning to attempt to rely upon 
them, and so he set about organizing an effective 
force. In number he had a plenty of men, but 
they were fresh from the fields of bondage, — 
quite raw. They were not soldiers. The work 
he had laid out to be done required soldiers. 
Therefore all able-bodied men were enrolled, and 
captains appointed over thousands and hundreds 
and fifties and tens; and, of course, they were all 
carefully drilled, trained and exercised for a Ion ' 
time with that terrible object in view. They 
stayed in the wilderness many years roving about, 
an immense horde of marauders, and until all but 
a very few that left Egypt died oft", and a new 
generation that had not been subjected to the 



58 VINDICATION OF THK TRUE GOD 

enervating influence of slavery had taken their 
place. Bj this time a strong and powerful army 
was formed, that was fully capable and able to 
carry out the designs of Moses without any special 
help from God. Moses, by this time, was nearly 
a hundred and twenty years old, and of course 
was umible to lead the army in person into the 
field. He appointed Joshua as the general for 
that purpose, and also at his death to be his suc- 
cessor to the government and to finish the work. 
Joshua had been the chief man under Moses and 
next to him from the start. lie was a man of 
ability, and richly endowed with all the cruel and 
bloodthirsty qualities requisite for the terrible 
business that was before him. The army was a 
desperate and powerful band of robbers and mur- 
derers. Neither Moses, Joshua, or their army 
had any regard for justice or human rights. They 
were all alike,^destitute of human feelings and 
all moral principles. When ready to move, they 
came down upon the innocent and unoffending 
people that were in their way like an army of 
hungry, ravenous wolves upon defenseless sheep, 
and moved on a remorseless, heartless, overwhelm- 
ing flood of destruction, sweeping away, cutting 
oft', butchering and destroying every human being, 
— man, woman and child, — that came in their 
way. There was, however, one remarkable ex- 
ception to this, which deserves to be mentioned. 



AGAINST THK GOD OF MOSKS. 59 

After the army had cut off and slain all the men 
of Midian, and was exhausted by its work of 
slaughter, it appeared that there was a large 
number of women and children that had been 
overlooked and were left still alive, and the tired 
soldiers took them prisoners and brought them, 
with the prey and spoils, to Moses. " And Moses 
was wroth.'' He was angry because they had 
not been slain, and said : " Now, therefore, kill 
every male among the little ones, and kill every 
woman that hath known man by lying with him." 
But all the women, — "children — that hath not 
known a man by lying with him, keep alive for 
yourselves,^^ What a man to claim companion- 
ship and direct intercourse with God! 

This army utterly depopulated all the land 
through which they passed, took all property that 
could be moved, and left nothing behind them 
but ruin and desolation. Having murdered, cut 
off, and destroyed the inhabitants of Bashan and 
Moab, they seized all those rich lands, together 
with their flocks and herds and other property, 
and there they rested a while from their infamous 
labors. There Moses died, and the government 
passed into the hands of Joshua. 

In a few days, Joshua, with his army, passed 
over Jordan, and began the work of devastation 
in Canaan itself. He murdered thirty-one kings, 
destroyed their kingdoms, cut off and destroyed 



6o VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

the people with an indiscriminate slaugliter, seized 
all their lands and property, and thus completed 
the bloody work marked out by Moses. There 
never was a more unjust, cruel, inhuman and in- 
famous act of savage barbarity perpetrated by 
any people on the face of the globe. The whole 
scheme was projected by Moses, with utter disre- 
gard of justice and of all human rights; and was 
prosecuted, carried on, and accomplished by crime 
and bloodshed, and with a refinement of cruelty 
tliat shocks the moral sense. Joshua was the jren- 
eral and direct leader through It all, and the pages 
of history are not stained with the name of a more 
atrocious robber and murderer. And yet people 
are deluded by nothing but rank superstition Into 
the belief that all this horrible work was insti- 
gated, ordered and directed by God at the burn- 
ing bush, for tlie sole benefit of that depraved 
horde of cut-throats. It Is Interesting to skim 
over the pr.ges of the history of a few succeeding 
years, and see how this all turned out. 

The hopes of the children of Israel were at 
length realized. They were In possession of tlie 
land of Canaan, which Moses taught them to be- 
lieve that "God sware " unto them for '' an ever- 
lasting possession." Many of them soon found 
the service of Baal and Ashteroth more agreeable 
than that of the God of Moses, and they probably 
were quite as real and quite as good gods as the 



AGAINST THK GOD OF MOSES. 6 1 

one represented or created by Moses. The Israel- 
ites lived there for many years ; fought a good 
deal among themselves, and with neighboring 
peoples ; but they came to be pretty well united 
many years after under David, who made himself 
popular among them. David reigned over them 
forty years, when he died and left tlie kingdom to 
his son, Solomon, who, at the time was but a 
young boy. However, he was a very clever 
youth ; he made friends with all the heathen and 
idolatrous nations, far and near, by marrying the 
daughters of all their kings, and building temples 
to their gods, as well as to Jehovah. He engaged 
in foreign commerce, was very successful, and 
brought precious metals to Jerusalem in great 
abundance. His tables were loaded with vessels 
of gold, and he made silver '^ plenty as stones in 
the street"; but his fast life brought him to an 
early grave. He died at the age of about fifty- 
five, leaving seven hundred widows to mourn his 
loss, and three hundred other women to look for 
other lovers. It is easy to understand how such 
a man, as he saw his end approaching, might cry 
out, with full appreciation of the fact, " Vanity of 
vanities, — all is vanity." 

Then the kingdom was rent asunder. Reobo- 
hem, the son of Solomon, retained Jerusalem with 
the tribe of Judah, and perhaps a remnant of 
Benjamin, afterwards known as "the Jews"; 



62 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

and the other ten tribes (afterwards known as 
Israel) chose Jerobolian for their king, and made 
Schechem their capital. Then followed war and 
fighting among this chosen seed of Abraham and 
between themselves, — Israel against Judah and 
Judah against Israel, — almost continually for cen- 
turies. The Israelites became quite idolatrous. 
Then probably many that w^ere opposed to idol- 
atry migrated into Asia Minor, (irreece, Rome 
and Egypt, and there built synagogues. Those 
that remained were finally conquered, taken into 
captivity, and their lands confiscated by the con- 
querors. Judah held out a little longer, but soon 
after the death of the good Josiah, who was a 
good man, Jerusalem was also taken by Nebuchad- 
nezzar, and many of the people carried away into 
captivity; and then all the land of Canaan, which 
Moses said that God sware unto the seed of 
Abraham for "an everlasting possession," was 
wholly taken away from them, became absorbed 
in the great Persian Empire, and the seed of 
Abraham has never since had a country they 
could call their own. The avenging hand of 
Justice was plainly visible. The land that was 
so unjustly acquired by them by crime and blood- 
shed was all taken away, and the great dynasty 
that was founded upon the false and blasphemous 
pretences of Moses was shattered, disintegrated, 
ground to powder, and the people scattered to the 



AGAINST THK GOD OF MOSKS. 63 

four winds of heaven. This most just doom was 
a long time in coming ; but it was sure to come, 
and it did come. Thus (to paraphrase an old 
sentiment) : 

•' The true God's mills grind slow, 
But grind exceeding small ; 
With patience long he waits, 
But surely grind they a//." 



CHAPTER VI. 

Jesus of Nazareth. 

About 1450 years after the death of Moses 
another great and better man appeared in the 
person of Jesus of Nazareth, who, after his death, 
became the innocent cause of great changes, much 
controversy, violent conflicts of opinion, and con- 
siderable trouble. But the legitimate force and 
power of his teachings and example have hitherto 
been greatly hampered and restrained by super- 
stition, but have by no means been exhausted or 
diminished. The great object of his life was not 
to save souls from a terrible hell, which had no 
existence, but to purify the morals of society, 



64 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

elucidate and inculcate sound principles, and in- 
duce and promote the cultivation of true charily 
among men; and to the end of time, and long after 
all false notions shall have been entirely dissipaced 
and passed away, he will be admired and vene- 
rated as the guiding star to all workers in that 
field. 

As when a meteor flashes across the sky, we 
involuntarily turn to look at it, let us now pause 
a while to contemplate the life and character of 
this great and good man. Jesus was a Jew of 
humble parentage, but possessed of a high order 
of intellect, and a clear and exalted conception of 
moral principles and duties. He was brought up 
and educated in the Jewish faith, and, like other 
children, naturally adopted the faith of his pa- 
rents. He sincerely believed in Moses and the 
prophets, — never thought of doubting what was 
claimed for them by his ancestors, or that their 
writings contained the true revealed will and 
commandments of the one only living and True 
God. He supposed that, rightly understood and 
j)racticed, they contained everything that was 
essential and necessary to promote the well being 
and happiness of man. As he grew to manhood 
he discovered great errors. He did not mistrust 
that the system was false, and that that was what 
occasioned the wrong; but thought they were 
errors of practice that had crept into the system, 



AGAINST the: GOD OF MOSKS. 65 

and that they had a bad effect and a demoralizing 
tendency. He saw that the leaders were paying 
far more attention to outside sliow — to forms and 
ceremonies and the letter of the law — than to the 
true spirit and meaning of sound moral precepts, 
and he conceived it to be his duty to try to cor- 
rect them. He began modestly to impart his 
views to his companions in the humbler walks of 
life, but his teachings were so pointed and forcible 
that they attracted great attention. He spake as 
they had never before heard man speak. The 
people became deeply interested, and multitudes 
followed to listen to his discourses. His severe 
censures and reproofs reached the ears of the 
leaders of society, and they felt the sting. The 
proud Pharisees were indignant that a Nazarene 
— a person of such low origin — should presume 
to criticise and reprove them; and they were so 
wrought up- by the fa^t that the people were fol- 
lowing, listening, believing and adopting his views 
that they determined, if possible, to put him out 
of the way. They accused him of heresy, and an 
attempt to subvert and destroy their system of 
worship and religion, and besought Pilate to order 
his crucifixion. Pilate, after exjuiiining the case, 
declared that he could find no fault in the man. 
But they clamored so strongly that he fiinally, 
with reluctance, consented, washed his hands, 
and gave him over to them to be crucified ; which 
they forthwith did. 



66 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

After the crucifixion, bis friends who had heard 
his preaching knew that he was as pure and good 
a man as ever lived, that he had been most cruelly 
and unjustly put to death ; and when they saw 
with what a sublime composure he met the terri- 
ble ordeal, they began to think that he was some- 
thing more than human, — that he must have had 
a divine nature. Soon stories were circulated 
that his body was missing from the sepulchre, and 
that he had been seen alive; and they came to the 
conclusion that he must be the Son of God, that 
he had risen from the dead, and ascended into 
heaven. And, as evidence of his divine nature, 
it was rumored that while living he had wrought 
miracles. 

Now we may discard all the claims in regard 
to his miraculous origin, which he never claimed, 
and the resurrection. lie was too good a man to 
think of imposing upon the people by attempting 
to work miracles, and many things were probably 
interpolated in his biographies, during the thirty 
or forty years that elapsed after tlie crucifixion 
before any gospel was i)ublished, which had no 
foundation in anything he taught or did : but 
his pure life, his tender sympathy for the suffer- 
ing, his noble charity for the erring, his high 
standard of morals, his nice distinction between 
pretense and practice, truth and error, and be- 
tween hypocrisy and charity, his famous sermon, 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSKS. 67 

lils plain, pointed and touching illustrations of 
truth, by his simple but inimitable parables, all 
proclaim a noble soul, and shine out with a beauty, 
lov^eliness and sublimity which command the 
respect, admiration and reverence of mankind. 
Let him be honored and held in grateful remem- 
brance ; let the day of his birth be the most noted 
of the year, and let it be celebrated with *' songs 
and dances," with joy and merriment, eulogy and 
praise, till the whole race of man shall be brought 
into sympatliy with his true teachings, and the 
practice of his virtues. 

But, great, good and worthy as Jesus was, he 
certainly was not the True Almighty God. He 
never claimed to be. But the unjust and cruel 
treatment he received for teaching real truth and 
true charity proves that the groundwork and 
foundation of the system that would not listen to, 
adopt, sustain and practice such preaching was 
false ; that it did not proceed from, and was not 
founded or authorized by, the True God. 

After the crucifixion a party of Jews, includ- 
ing the disciples, upon thinking over what Moses 
and the prophets had written, concluded that this 
Jesus must be the Christ that they had dimly 
spoken of, that would be born of a Virgin and 
come to redeem Israel ; and that liis crucifixion 
was the end of the law, and a perfect fulfillment 
of all imagined types and of all ))rophesics ; and 



68 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

tliat tlirougli him salvation liad come to a fallen 
world. Tliey became very earnest and enthusi- 
astic in this belief; and they were not selfish about 
it, either. They did not claim, as Moses did, all 
the benefits for their own race, but placed the Gen- 
tiles, — all mankind, — on the same level with them- 
selves, entitled to share equally in all the blessings. 

Soon, marvelous stories were circulated about 
miracles which it was rumored that Jesus had 
wrought; and it was claimed that he was the 
Son of God, — begotten by God, — and also that he 
had risen from the dead. 

It was easy enough to induce people in that age 
to believe that Jesus was begotten by God, for in 
those days it was generally believed that gods and 
goddesses had intercourse with mortals. Greek 
and Roman histories related many cases of the 
kind, and it was (as one might .%ay) an every-day 
occurrence. There had been many instances on 
earth, where divine and human natures were be- 
lieved to have been united in the same person. 
Hence, it seemed no great mystery in the case of 
so good a man as Jesus, and it was readily believed 
as a matter of course. 

Belief of the Resurrection was more difficult to 
establish. The evidence of that supposed event 
is the stories which are related in the four gospels 
attributed to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. 
It is by no means certain who wrote any of them, 



AGAINST TITK COD OF MOSKS. 69 

or wlien or wliere tliey were written, or tliat tlicy 
now retain tlieir original sliape. None of them 
were written in less than from thirty to forty years 
after the Crucifixion. But we will examine them 
as they now appear, and afterward speak of other 
matters relating to them. 

The story contained in them is substantially as 
follows : In the evening of the day of the Cruci- 
fixion, which was Friday^ one Joseph of Arama- 
th.ea, with the permission of Pilate, took the body 
of elesus. It was then naked, for the soldiers 
had stripped off the clothing and divided it among 
themselves. This Joseph bought linen, with wdiich 
lie enwrapped the body, laid it in a new sep- 
ulchre, closed the door, rolled a stone against it, 
and departed. Nothing further is said or known 
of Joseph. This left the sepulchre accessible,, 
for the stone which Joseph rolled against the door 
with his own hands might be rolled away by a 
like instrumentality. 

Very early, as early as sunrise if not earlier, on 
the morning of the first day of the week, which 
corresponds with our Sunday, and consequently 
only ahoiit thirty-six hours after the body teas laid 
in the sepulchre, it is related tiiat Mary Magda- 
lene came to the sepulchre, found it open, and the 
body of Jesus gone. It is stated that she said she 
saw there, Matthew says, "an angel"; Mark says, "a 
young man ''; Luke says, "two young men "; and 



^d VINDICATION Olf THE ^RUE GOD 

John savs, ''two angels," '^ clotlied in long white 
garments/' who told her '* Jesus is risen." On 
turning to leave, she saw a person that she did 
not recognize. John says she thought he was 
'* the gardener." (Of course, he was then clothed. 
Where did the clothes come from ?) He spake 
and called her by name, and then, it is said, '* she 
knew it was Jesus." And then, (according to 
Matthew, Mark and Luke,) he requested her to 
" go and tell his brethren who were in the city, 
and but a little way off, to go to Galilee and there 
they would see him." Mark says, that when 
Mary came and delivered the message, and told 
them that Jesus was alive and had been seen of 
her, ''they believed not "; Luke says, " her words 
seemed as idle tales and they believed them not." 
.Matthew, alone, says that "the disciples went to 
Galilee and saw Jesus," and worshiped (i. e., sa- 
luted) him, ""hut some dovhtedy 

This comprises about all that relates to what 
Mary said and did, according to Matthew, Mark, 
and Luke. A\^e have nothing direct from Mary 
herself. And all that is contained in those Gos- 
pels about her is nothing but oral rumors about 
what she said, from at least thirty to forty years 
before either of them was written. If her story 
had been true, it is most likely tliere would have 
been more than a casual street meeting between 
them ; and his mother and other friends of the 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSKS. 7 1 

family, also, would certainly have received some 
notice of it. 

The report that Jesus told her " to tell his 
brethren to go to Galilee," to meet him, is absurd. 
The alleojed meetino^ and conversation between 
Jesus and Mary was near the sepulchre, and on- 
ly a short walking distance from where his " breth- 
ren " were then known to be. He might have 
gone to them, or sent and invited them to come to 
him, or appointed some near-by place for a meet- 
ing and seen them in a few minutes. Mary found 
them quickly. And it is wholly incredible that 
he would, under the circumstances, have requested 
them to go way to Galilee, which was fifty or six- 
ty miles from where they all then were, to meet 
him. This has a tendency to show that there was 
a design on the part of Mary, or some one else, to 
work a scheme and create a false impression. 

None of the other evangelists mention or allude 
to any such meeting in Galilee, and if what all 
three of them agree in stating is true, no such 
meeting could have occurred. For, in addition 
to the statement of Mark and Luke, that " the 
brethren " did not believe Mary, and, conse- 
quently, would not have acted on her statement, 
Mark, Luke and John all agree in saying that 
there was a meeting of "The Eleven" in the 
evening of the same day, that is, only about for- 
ty-eight hours after Jesus was laid in the sepul- 



72 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

chre, at their usual place of meeting in Jerusa- 
]em ; and when the door was shut, for fear of the 
Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst, im- 
plying, of course, that he had passed through 
solid matter to get in. 

And those evangelists also say that when lie 
appeared ^' they (the disciples) were terrified and 
affrighted," and supposed they had seen a spirit ; 
but that he calmed their fears, and to prove that 
he was not a spirit, requested them " to handle 
him," and said to them, " A spirit hath not flesh 
and bones, as ye see me have." And to further 
convince them he called for "meat," and ate some 
"broiled fish and honey comb" before them. 
This is a strange commingling of evidence, to 
prove, — first, that he was a spirit that could pass 
through solid matter without affecting it, and 
immediately show that his body was composed of 
flesh and bones, and that he could eat. 

After this meeting Mark says he was taken up 
into heaven, but gives no particulars. But Luke 
says that after the meeting " he (Jesus) led them 
out as far as Bethany." This might have been 
rather late in the evening, but could not have 
been more than from fifty to fifty-one or two 
hours after he was laid in the sepulchre. And 
" there he lifted up his hands and blessed them, 
and while he blessed them he was parted from 
them, and carried up into heaven." Now this 



AGAINST the; GOD OF MOSES. 73 

certainly Is what Luke at tlie time he wrote, 
(wliich was about forty years after the crucifix- 
ion,) supposed and believed the fact to be. And 
that fixes the time when, it must have been then, 
at the time he wrote, generally understood and 
believed that the ascension occurred, in the eve- 
ning of the second day after the crucifixion. 
Luke certainly never heard or believed that Jesus 
was seen by anybody alive after that evening ; 
nor did Matthew or Mark, or they would have 
mentioned It. 

There can be no doubt that there was a meet- 
ing of *' The Eleven " on that evening, to wit, 
the evening of the day of the alleged resurrection. 
It was at the usual time and place, when and 
where they were accustomed to meet and dine 
together. And if, as Luke says, Jesus ascended 
on that same evening, Immediately after that 
meeting, the evidence Is conclusive that the meet- 
ing In Galilee that Matthew speaks of could not 
not have occurred. For It is Impossible that the 
brethren could have gone to Galilee, fifty miles 
away, had a meeting there with Jesus, and re- 
turned so as to be present at that meeting In 
Jerusalem on the evening of the same day, and 
immediately after which meeting the ascension 
occurred. This is not a case where different 
witnesses give diiferent accounts of the same 
transactions, all of which may be true ; but this 



74 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

is the case of an alibi, wlicre if one statement be 
true tlie other cannot possibly be true. The 
statement in Matthew's gospel, therefore, is cer- 
tainly erroneous. No such meeting as there 
spoken of could possibly have occurred. 

Yet Matthew was one of '' The Eleven," and 
must have known of the meeting in Jerusalem, 
and all that occurred at it. Tlie only solution 
to tlie discrepancy about the meeting in Galilee 
is, that Matthew did not write that part of that 
Gospel, if any. It must have been written by 
some one that was not inspired as to facts. 

It is to be remarked, also, as affecting the 
credibility of the gospel of Matthew relating to 
the resurrection, that it evinces too strong a dis- 
position on the part of the writer, whoever he 
was, to ascribe miraculous intervention of angels 
and Sihmghty power , iolthout the least j^r oof , io 
acts that were within the power of human agen- 
cies. Therefore he gratuitously assumes that 
*' there was a great earthquake,'' and that " an 
angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and 
came and rolled away the stone from the door, 
and sat upon it." The writer of that part of the 
gospel was not there, and could not have known, 
personally, how the stone was rolled awny, or 
what happened there. He simply assumes the 
fact, without any evidence except, perhaps, idle 
gossip ; and it was evidently done to create a 



AGAINST THli: GOD OF MOSKS. 75 

belief that there were miraculous appearances at 
the sepulclire. Whereas, if Jesus could enter 
the room where liis disciples were, while tlie 
door was shut, he might have found his way out 
of the sepulchre in the same way, without troub- 
ling an angel to roll back the stone, and in spite 
of the lioman guard, too. 

That disposition to imagine miracles, and heap 
one upon another, probably had the desired effect 
in those days; but as looked upon now it has a 
strong tendency to discredit the whole story. 
Considering, then, the improbability that Jesus, 
if risen, would have sent a request to his brethren, 
who were then within a short walk of him, to go 
off fifty miles into the country in order to meet 
him, together with the fact that no other evan- 
gelist speaks of or alludes to such a meeting, and 
that there was a meeting of The Eleven at Jerusa- 
lem on the evening of that day, we may dismiss 
all that that gospel says about the meeting in 
Galilee as unworthy of belief. As Matthew says 
nothing about any other meeting, or of the ascen- 
sion, we may conclude that he, although one of 
'' The Eleven," did not know of any meeting of 
Jesus with his disciples ; and therefore he fur- 
nishes no evidence touching the resurrection, ex- 
cept his report of the vague rumors about what 
Mary Magdalene said, with the fact standing out 
tliat the disciples did not believe her when she 



. 76 VINDICATION OF THK TKLIv GOD 

told them that "Jesus was alive, antl had been 
seen of her." 

The next thino- to be considered is the meetinfj 
of " The Eleven" at Jerusalem, on the evening of 
the day of the alleged resurrection, at which Murk 
and Luke say, that while '' they sat at meat," and 
the door was shut, Jesus appeared among them, 
and after the close of that meeting ascended up to 
heaven. There can be no doubt there was a meet- 
ing of *' The Eleven " on that evening. It was a 
usual meeting of "• The Eleven," where they were 
accustomed to dine together. The fact that there 
was a meeting is one thing, but what occurred at 
the meeting is a very different question. Neither 
Mark or Luke was of " The Eleven," and neither 
of them was present at that meeting; for it was 
a meeting only of '*The Eleven," at their usual 
dinner ; hence, neither Mark nor Luke could have 
had any personal knowledge of what occurred. 
If they wrote the gospels attributed to them, they 
did not write until forty or fifty years after the 
supposed event; and then wrote, not what they 
personally knew, but only what others had told 
them, and do not state from whom they received 
information. Their gospels arc only the gather- 
ing up or compiling of rumors that had been 
floating about for forty years. An effort has been 
made to show that- there was a record from which 
the stories of the evangelists were taken ; but 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSES. 77 

there is no proof that any such thing ever ex- 
isted : therefore, the testimony of Mark and Luke 
as to what occurred at that meeting is at best 
only the hearsay evidence of floating rumors. 

Matthew was one of " The Eleven," and must 
have been at that meeting, and must have known 
what took place ; and the fact that he does not 
mention or allude to it is strong evidence that 
nothing occurred at the meeting out of the ordin- 
ary course of things at their dinners. If Jesus 
had appeared, and all those remarkable things 
had followed that Mark and Luke speak of, they 
could not have been forgotten, and Matthew cer- 
tainly would have said something about them. 
This negative evidence, this silence of Matthew 
and others of ''The Eleven," who must have 
known all that happened at that meeting, is of 
far more weight than the testimony of Mark and 
Luke, who were not present, and did not peVsonally 
know what took place, but j^-ecorded only what 
they had heard from others. So that, in fact, 
there is no reliable evidence thus far that either 
the meeting in Galilee took place, or that Jesus 
appeared to his disciples at the meeting in Jerusa- 
lem, on the evening of the day of the alleged 
resurrection, or at any other time or place. 

And it must not be lost sight of, that these 
gospels were not hurriedly written, on the spur of 
the moment, immediately after the happening of 



78 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

the events they pretend to record ; but the writers 
all had at least from thirty to forty years to think 
over what they would write. The probability is 
that they wrote personally only a part, if any, of 
what is attributed to them, and that the originals 
w'ere afterwards changed and altered, by additions, 
interpolations and excisions, by unknown and irre- 
sponsible hands, into the shape in which they now 
appear ; and we have no reliable knowledge of 
what they in fact originally wrote. At the best, 
all those gospels are only compilations of floating 
rumors. This covers all that is said about the 
resurrection in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and 
Luke, — all the so-called synoptic gospels ; and 
our verdict on that evidence must be Not proved. 
The gospel, according to John, agrees with 
Mark and Luke about the meeting at Jerusalem 
on the evening of the day of the alleged resurrec- 
tion, and says there was another meeting eight days 
after, at wdiich Jesus appeared in the same way 
that he is said to have appeared at the first meet- 
ing, and convinced Thomas, who w^as not pres- 
ent at the first meeting. If this is true, it would 
disprove what Luke says about the ascension : 
and if this second meeting occurred, at which 
Jesus appeared, Matthew and the rest of ''The 
Eleven " must have known of it, and Mark and 
Luke must at least have heard of it, and some of 
them would have spoken of it. But neither Mark, 



AGAINST TH^ GOD OF MOSKS. 79 

Luke, Matthew nor Thomas, nor any other of 
" The Eleven," says a word about it, and that fact 
is strong evidence tliat no such thins; occurred. 

Besides, if John's gospel is to be credited, it 
would prove that the discii)les did not think it 
important to stay around Jerusalem, and try to 
have more meetings with Jesus, for six or seven 
of them got up a fishing excursion and went up to 
the Sea of Tiberias, sixty miles from Jerusalem, 
a-fishing. There they took a ship, went out and 
toiled all night, and caught nothing. In the 
morning, being only two or three hundred feet 
from land, they saw a man on shore that they did 
not recognize, who hailed them and asked if they 
had ''any meat," (meaning, Had they caught 
any fish ?) They replied, " No." He then told 
them to cast their net on the right side of the 
ship. They did so, and immediately the net was 
filled with fishes, and to such an extent that they 
could not draw it aboard the vessel ; so they 
dragged it ashore and found they had caught '' a 
hundred and fifty-three " large fishes. Then they 
saw a fire of coals burning, and fish laid thereon. 
Presently, the stranger said to them, " Come and 
dine." None of them durst ask him, " Who art 
thou? for they knew it was Jesus." This state- 
ment contradicts itself, for it is evident they did 
not recognize him as Jesus. " He took bread and 
gave them, and fish also." Then the Evan- 



8o VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

gelist says, " This is now the third time that Jesus 
showed himself to his disciples after that he was 
risen from the dead." This, of course, reads out 
Matthew's account of a meeting in Galilee. For, 
although the Sea of Tiberias is in Galilee, the 
meeting at the seaside does not correspond in any 
manner with the meeting that Mattliew speaks of. 
Now this covers all that is said in the four gos- 
pels upon the alleged resurrection. 

This last story attributed to John, in its details, 
circumstances and surroundings, smacks a little 
too much of tlie business tlie disciples were then 
engaged in. The idea that Jesus followed and ap- 
peared to them on that fishing excursion, and 
acted in the manner detailed, was a little too much 
for the early fathers of the Church to swallow, and 
they did not believe that John, the "beloved dis- 
ciple," had anything to do with that gospel, not- 
withstanding it is said in the 24th verse of the last 
chapter, " This is the disciple wliich testifieth of 
these things and wu'ote these things." It is sup- 
posed that that was falsely added to enhance its 
credit. 

John, the disciple, was over ninety years old 
when the gospel was written, and was very decrep- 
it in mind and body. But there was another John 
at Ephesus, where the disciple was stationed, 
known as John the elder. And it was believed 
by those then in a position to judge, that this 



AGAINST THK GOD OF MOSKS. 8 1 

John the elder, and several otlier persons acting 
with him, compiled that gospel from oral tradi- 
tions that had come to their ears during the sixty 
years following the crucifixion, and that John the 
disciple had nothing to do with it. It was a final 
compilation of all vague rumors, and the setting 
forth of certain mystic mythical mysteries which 
were then considered necessary to perfect a sys- 
tem of religion. But learned critics, knowing the 
great age and decrepit condition of the Apostle 
John at the time it was written, after closely com- 
paring the style with his other known writings, 
and taking all the circumstances into considera- 
tion, came to the conclusion that John the disci- 
ple did not write it ; and the early fathers of the 
Church did not receive and credit it as having 
been written or authorized by him. But after one 
or two handred years, however, it was canonized 
by the Christians, and declared by them to be in- 
spired. It suited the then prevailing notions. 
That is the way they manufactured evidence in 
those daj's. But this fact can amount to nothing 
in the eye of reason and common sense. Suffi- 
cient doubt and uncertainty are cast upon it to 
destroy it as credible and convincing evidence 
to prove such a miracle as the resurrection. 

A similar doubt and uncertainty shade all the 
other gospels. There can be no doubt that none 
of them are in exactly their original shape, and 



82 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

there is no knowing when, where, or by whom 
they were written, or how much they have been 
changed since they were first written. Then, 
assuming that John the disciple did not write the 
gospel attributed to him, and excepting what is 
said in Matthew's gospel about a meeting in 
Galilee, which cannot possibly be true, we have no 
account of any meeting of Jesus with his dis- 
ciples after the crucifixion that was either written 
or sanctioned by any of " The Eleven," or any 
body that was present, and an eye witness of any 
such meeting. No one that pretended personally 
to have seen him or heard him talk has written a 
word on the subject. All we have is a gathering 
up and compiling by outside parties of vague 
rumors, not written and published till forty years 
after the crucifixion. Peter and James wrote 
epistles, but neither says a word about any of the 
meetings that Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John 
speak of. And all that the enthusiastic Paul says 
on the subject of Jesus being seen by any body 
is obviously only hearsay. The superstitious ele- 
ments In his nature, as in millions of other people 
before and since, induced him to beHeve great 
miracles on a kind of evidence that would not be 
admitted to prove an allegation in a suit at law. 
About seventy-six years before the crucifixion 
the greatest and one of the best of mortals was 
most ignomlniously stabbed to death by senators 



AGAINST the; GOD OF MOSES. 83 

on the floor of the Roman Senate chamber. This 
monstrous crime appalled society, and aroused all 
the inventive powers of superstition to the high- 
est pitch. Community was filled with rumors of 
miraculous events, — prodigies in the sky, among 
the stars ; strange and unnatural appearances in 
the entrails of animals offered in sacrifice ; and it 
was also believed 

" That graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead 
Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets." 

A similar shock was experienced by his friends, 
when the pure and lovely Jesus was suddenly 
snatched from them, and cruelly, brutally cruci 
fied before their eyes. Then again frenzied su- 
perstition imagined and believed that there were 
miraculous occurrences, — that there were earth- 
quakes in divers places, that rocks were rent, and 
'*that graves were opened, and that many bodies 
of saints that slept arose, and came out of the 
graves, and went into the Holy City, and appeared 
unto many." [ Vide Matt, xxvii ; 52, 5eS.] None 
of those saints, however, were ever identified. 
Such were the wild assumptions and beliefs of a 
superstitious people, smarting under that terrible 
affliction. The friends of Jesus believed that he 
rose from the dead and ascended up to heaven, 
and there became a God. And so the Romans 
before them believed that the Great Ca3sar as- 
cended up to heaven and became a God, as many 



84 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

a great hero before him had done. It is impossi- 
ble to determine what could be too absurd and 
l)reposterous for superstition to imagine and be- 
lieve, under such or similar circumstances ; it is 
simply a psychological mystery. 

The same kind of superstitious belief may be 
traced in all ages to the present time. There is 
hardly a city or important town in this country, 
or perhaps in the world, but has some legend or 
remarkable story about some house or locality 
being haunted ; thousands of good people believe 
in ghosts, strange apparitions of persons that have 
been murdered or unjustly put to death. The 
same kind of stories were probably fabricated by 
his superstitious friends about Jesus, and were the 
foundation, and all the foundation there ever was, 
for all that has since been said about his resur- 
rection. But all of them lack reasonable proof. 
When fairly sifted down, it will be found that 
there is nothing to support them but hearsay evi- 
dence and vague rumors, like all ghost stories 
among a superstitious people, in a superstitious 
age, frenzied and distracted by the cruel death of 
a very dear and most worthy friend. Hence, to 
sum it all up, there is no fairly credible and con- 
vincing evidence that Jesus was ever seen alive by 
any one after the crucifixion ; no evidence of a 
kind that would sustain an allegation of fact in a 
Court of Justice, let alone the miraculousness of 
the question here involved. 



AGAINST THB GOD OF MOSKS. 85 

Jesus was a firm believer in Moses and the 
prophets, and as tlie existence of Hell, and a great 
personal Devil, who once lived in Heaven, was 
not at all recognized in their system, it is incred- 
ible that Jesus should have had any such belief 
in regard to them as Is indicated in the gospels. 
All that is said or alluded to about them in the 
gospels, as coming from or pertaining to Jesus, 
was probably inserted and interwoven after his 
death, without any authority from him, or from 
any of his real teachings. They doubtless were all 
unauthorized fabrications, designed to support 
the new doctrine in regard to the Immortality of 
the soul, which the Christians after the crucifix- 
ion received from the Gentiles ; and they created 
the Devil and Hell to supply the place of the 
heathen Pluto and Hades, which were not terri- 
ble and fearful enough to suit them. It is true 
that about the time the Greeks began to preach 
immortality, that a sect arose among the Jews 
called the Pharisees, who believed In a resurrec- 
tion, while the Sadducees did ^not. But none of 
these thinors disturbed the even workinsj of the 
regular Hebraic system. They were all separate, 
private, personal, and Individual concerns ; and 
It may well be that on this question Jesus adopt- 
ed the belief of the Pharisees. But they did not 
go so far as to imagine a big personal Devil, or a 
future terrible Hell. That was all the work of 



86 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

the Christians, long after the death of Jesus, antl 
he is not responsible for them. 

Considering then the facts, that the gospels are 
only compilations of vague rumors, oral traditions 
and legends, that none of tliem were compiled in 
less than from thirty to forty years after the cru- 
cifixion, that the authors are not known to a cer- 
tainty, that the originals have undoubtedly been 
greatly changed by additions, interpolations, and 
excisions; the improbabilities, inconsistencies, and 
contradictions contained in them, we must con- 
clude that they constitute but a very frail found- 
ation on which to build a belief of such a miracle 
as the resurrection. 

It is contended by some that many tilings are 
purposely left obscure, uncertain and doubtful, to 
give on opportunity to exercise faith. Faith in 
what? Faith in what never happened ? Faith in 
what is not and cannot be proved? Faith in con- 
fused, inconsistent stories about miracles ? Faith 
in wild, flying rumors? Faith in absurd and im- 
probable stories, wl^ich it was rumored that a wo- 
man told forty years before any of them were put 
in w^riting? A woman, too, out of whom it was 
said seven devils had been cast, and might have had 
many more left? If faith is such a predominant, 
all-overriding, supreme virtue, suppose we turn 
the tables a little, and say : I have faith in God, 
faith in his integrity, faith that he is ever true to 



AGAINST THH GOD OF MOSES. 87 

Iiimself and his own character, faith that he keeps 
his laws and the laws of nature inviolate, faith 
that he would not allow them to be violated, brok- 
en, and set at naught to work miracles. How 
would that kind of faith answer ? Such a faith, 
it seems, does not answer the purposes of religion 
and never did. Religion is not satisfied with faith 
in God. His glorious works and ways, the even, 
constant and sublime working of his laws, are not 
sufficient for the purposes of religion. Religion 
requires that those laws shall be reversed, broken, 
violated. It calls for Miracles — Miracles — that is 
the only food that will sustain religion. It must 
have miracles, and not real miracles either. They 
would not answer the entire purpose so well. It 
must be faith in absurd and ridiculous rumors of 
miracles, invented by priests and designing per- 
sons to foster superstition. This kind of mira- 
cles is better than the pure article, — Faith in 
Moses, faith in the prophets, and faith in all suc- 
ceeding impostors, faith in the everlasting tor- 
ments of unbelievers ; that is what religion feeds 
on, that is its life-blood, the vitalizing principle, 
what it depends upon for its support, and it can- 
not live without it. True faith in the True God 
w^ould give a sure death-blow to it all. 

Besides, if the resurrection were a fact, and it 
was important that mankind should believe it, in- 
finite wisdom and goodness certainly would not 



88 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

have left the proof of it to vague and uncertain 
rumors, inconsistent and contradictory oral reports, 
to be gathered up from doubtful sources, and not 
published till forty years after the event. He 
would have adopted some more certain, convincing 
and adequate means to prove and establish the 
fact beyond doubt or cavil. It is not pretended 
that Jesus made any attempt to show himself ex- 
cept to Mary Magdalene and his disciples, — all 
interested friends. He did not even notice his 
mother. And all the meetings he is represented 
to have had with his disciples, setting aside all 
the uncertainties, inconsistencies, and contradic- 
tions in the stories, were in the night; all secret, 
clandestine, and miraculous of themselves. The 
ascension was in the night. It is not stated where 
he lodged or kept himself during the intervals of 
those meetings, if there was more than one, or 
that there was any effort made to see more of him. 
But after the second meeting that John speaks of, 
as it appears from that gospel, not regarding the 
fact that he was somewhere about Jerusalem, 
seven of them went off to the Sea of Tiberias, 
sixty miles away, on a fishing excursion. 

Jesus certainly could not have had any fear of 
anything more that man could do unto him, and 
he might have gone boldly to Pilate, who was 
kindly disposed toward him, and convinced him ; 
or he might have gone into the temple or the 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSKS. 89 

synagogues, and publicly proclaimed his resurrec- 
tion. In some such way the fact might have 
been proved and established beyond a doubt, in 
the presence of disinterested witnesses. As he is 
represented in the gospels, he does not appear to 
have been inclined to show himself at Jerusalem 
to anybody but this Mary Magdalene and his dis- 
ciples, at night, and in a very secret and mysteri- 
ous manner ; did not even call upon his mother. 
This shunning and avoiding everybody else, all 
open public demonstrations, and neglecting to put 
himself in the way to have the fact then and there 
established by disinterested, straight-forward, 
sure and convincing evidence, and an abundance 
of it, is strong proof that he did not rise from the 
dead. 

It has been cunningly argued that any such 
attempt to convince the Pharisees or Sadducees 
would have been useless, because they were pre- 
determined not to believe, did not want to believe, 
and would not have believed under any circum- 
stances. With all due deference, (which is very 
small,) it may be boldly and confidently asserted 
that there was not then livino^ a human beinjx of 
ordinary intelligence, from the cruel and beastly 
Emperor then on the throne, down to the hum- 
blest Roman citizen, nor a Pharisee or Sadducec, 
or anybody else, who would not have been 
more than glad to he convinced of a resurrection 



90 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

of the dead. There is nothing which mankind 
could be so delighted and so rejoiced to know. 
Everything else would have dwindled into insig- 
nificance in comparison with it. Crowns and 
scepters would have been right willingly thrown 
down, and the kingdom of Christ would have 
been at once established throughout the whole 
world. 

In the entire absence of all such proof, the un- 
certain, inconsistent, and contradictory compila- 
tions of the rumors, gossips, verbal reports, and 
stories that were floating about and accumulating 
in a superstitious age for forty years next follow- 
ing the ;:ucifixion, are not sufficient to warrant 
the belief of such a miracle as the resurrection of 
Jesus from the dead. So, if he in fact rose from the 
dead, and ascended into heaven, he certainly did 
not leave behind him any reasonably fair convinc- 
ing evidence of it, nor has he furnished any since. 



AGAINST THK GOD OF M0SJ3S. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Origin of the Devil, Hell, and the Scheme 
OF Kedemption. 

Whether true or false, the doctrine of the 
Immacuhite Conception, Resurrection, and Ascen- 
sion trained believers amonar the faithful Jews. 
Its advocates scrutinized and expounded the writ 
ings of Moses and the prophets, and claimed to 
prove by them that Jesus must be the Christ, the 
one that Moses saw by faith, as was said, who 
would bruise the head of the Serpent; that he 
was born of a Virgin, that it was necessary for him 
to suffer crucifixion as he had done, and that he 
would build up a new and better kingdom. It 
was all claimed to be founded upon the Mosaic 
dispensation, and evolved directly from it, and 
depended wholly upon the belief that the God 
which Moses had set up was the only living and 
True God — the same one he saw on Mount Sinai, 
and had daily interviews with in Egypt and 
through the wilderness, and that promised to assist 
the Israelites to murder and cut off all of the in 
habitants of Canaan, and give them all their land, 
and who had all the traits of human character 
which Moses and his followers ascribed to him. 



92 VINDICAl^ION OF THE TRUE GOD 

He had always been a true, faithful, and ex- 
clusive God of the Israelites. But now he had 
become a father, had a son of his own named 
Jesus, and, thenceforth, he would favor and be 
the God of those only, whether Jew or Gentile, 
who would believe that this Jesus was his son, 
was the true Christ spoken of by the prophets, 
and would join heart and hand to help him to 
build up a kingdom on earth. 

In a little while, a belief in the immortality of 
the soul, and future rewards and punishments, 
were engrafted on the system. This was not in 
the Mosaic system, and evidently was never 
thought of by Moses, nor did he pretend that 
God ever spoke of it to him. It has been claimed 
that life and immortality were brought to light 
through the gospel. But this is a mistake ; for 
immortality and future rewards and punishments 
had been taught by the Greeks and Eomans for 
centuries, and some of the demi-gods that were 
rumored to have lived on earth were permitted to 
visit the home of departed souls. So this doctrine 
came bodily from the Gentile believers in Jesus, 
and as the supposed resurrection and ascension 
of Jesus seemed to prove it, it was adopted with- 
out objection. 

While the Christians were contented to receive 
the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, and 
future rewards and punishments, from the heathen 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSES. 93 

Gentiles, they were not satisfied to accept their 
Hades for a hell or their Pluto for a devil ; Hades 
was too near by, somewhere under Italy, or there- 
abouts, and all departed souls had to go there in- 
discriminately, and, by a very fair and impartial 
judge, were assigned to different places, according 
to real merit. Then Pluto was not a devil, by 
any means. He was a God, — with good family 
connections, — was a brother of Jupiter and Nep- 
tune, on good terms with both, and behaved him- 
self just as well as other gods. Hades was his 
kinojdom. He had no such o^oro-eous throne as 
Satan had in his Hell, which, for splendor, 

"far 
Outshone the wealth of Ormus and of Ind," 

but a plain, modest throne, made of sulphur, (i. e,, 
brimstone,) and it was not on fire ; there was no 
lake of fire and brimstone anywhere about. 

Such things would not answer the purposes of 
the Christians. It was necessary for them to 
have a real, big, earnest Devil, and a remote, ter- 
rible lake of fire and brimstone for a Hell, to scare 
sinners, and make them shell out money to sup- 
port the church, and pray their souls out of the 
clutches of the Devil after death. As Moses had 
made no mention of his creation, and given no hint 
of the existence of any such place as Hell, they 
had to invent and create those tinners for them- 
selves and for their own use. And as they had 



94 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE OOD 

it all in their own power and did all the work, 
they made a Hell and a Devil just to suit them- 
selves. 

How, w4ien, where, and by whom this business 
was first started is involved in mystery. There 
were Grecian scholars amonor the Christians who 

o 

were familiar with the mythological accounts of 
the wars of the Titans against Saturn, and of the 
Giants against Jupiter, and they undoubtedly em- 
ployed this knowledge and their ingenuity to 
Christianize those legends, and with them fabri- 
cate the story that there had been a war in the 
Christian heav3n. The manner in which it is re- 
ported to have been carried on, and the style of 
fighting, are so identical with the mythological 
battles, there can be no doubt that the one was 
suggested by the other, and that both had the 
same heathen origin. 

It was readily perceived that such a war would 
be a very good way to create a terrible Hell, a 
first-class Devil, and lay a good foundation for a 
great scheme of redemption ; hence, the idea was 
adopted as a necessary part of the Clirlstian faith. 
And, in fact, it was the most important part of it, 
for without it they could have no Hell, no Devil, 
and a scheme of salvation could have no founda- 
tion, nothing to act upon, and would be as useless 
as a sawmill in a treeless desert, where there could 
be nothing to saw. Tiie main ideas were seized 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSES. 95 

and acted upon, but the complete legend was a 
long time in forming and assuming definite shape. 

At length, however, about two hundred and 
fifty years ago, John Milton, a learned man, stud- 
ied it out. and perfected the form and shape of 
the tradition in precisely the same way that all 
the traditions which Moses relates were original- 
ly formed by himself and his ignorant ancestors ; 
and that was by drawing upon the imagination 
for facts, while Milton was aided by heathen my- 
thology for his imagery. 

The ''Paradise Lost" has great merit as a 
poem. It shows extensive learning, great intel- 
lectual ability, and a poetic genius in its author 
that has not been excelled but by a very few, if 
any. But the story is a pure fiction, an inge- 
nious twisting and contortion of Grecian mythol- 
ogy, and has no more foundation in fact and 
truth than the stories in the Arabian Nights, or 
any other work of pure fiction ; yet it is believed 
by many to be God's truth. 

It is of great importance to examine this story 
thoroughly and seriously, for on it is founded all 
there is of Hell, a personal Devil, and the great 
scheme of Redemption, that is so much talked 
about. It is the only story that fully accounts 
for the origin of any such things, and without it 
they could not possibly have any standing or 
foundation whatever. Besides, this story of Mil- 



96 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

ton has been, and probably is now, believed by 
the Christian world as fully and implicitl}^ as any 
of the traditions that Moses relates, and is doubt- 
less just as true, and just as worthy of belief. 

As the story goes, somewhere about the time 
God Is said to have placed Adam and Eve in the 
Garden of Eden, a terrible war broke out in 
heaven. A few discontented spirits raised a great 
rebellion in those celes-tial regions, with the dire 
intent to dethrone God, usurp his government, 
and reign in his stead. The principal leaders in 
this conspiracy were Satan, Moloch, Belial, Mam- 
mon and Beelzebub, who up to that time liad been 
the boon companions, and stood very high in the 
favor of God. Their power and influence may 
be inferred from the fact that they are said to 
have drawn to their side one-third of all the 
powers and hosts of heaven. 

The armies on both sides were very soon mar- 
shalled, thoroughly drilled, and fully prepared for 
the great struggle. Their arms, of course, con- 
sisted for the most part of spirit weapons, spirit 
swords and lances, and spirit engines and artil- 
lery ; but during the battle it is said that God's 
warriors '' seized hills and mountains by tlieir 
shaggy tops," tore them up from their roots, and 
hurled them at their enemies just as the warriors 
of Saturn and Jupiter did. After some skirmish- 
ing the armies met in earnest, and fought with 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSES. 97 

most determined bravery and courage on both 
sides. The clianccs of victory varied from time 
to time, sometimes on one side and then on the 
other. Tlie battle raged for three days ; but at 
length on the third day God's dear Son, " grasp- 
ing ten tliousand thunders," made a desperate 
charge in person upon the enemy, and single- 
handed and alone drove them all out over the 
battlements of heaven into open space, where 
there was nothing to lodge against or fall upon. 
Consequently there was nothing to do but fall. 
So they fell, and kept on falling for nine days, 
and from that circumstance they are known and 
called "- fallen spirits," ''fallen angels," etc. In 
nine days the momentum ceased and they came 
to a halt, and the place where they are supposed 
to have stopped is called Hell. The world has 
been filled with most awful stories about it. 
Poets and divines have racked their imaginations 
to describe and paint its horrors. But those fallen 
spirits seem to have been pretty well satisfied with 
it, although they had been accustomed to better 
things: first, on the ground that ''ifc was better 
to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven " ; and, sec- 
ond, because they considered it a good place to 
plot mischief against their great enemy. Satan 
was the acknowledged chief or king, and from 
that fact is recognized and known as the great 
Devil, once a particular friend and associate of 



98 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

God, but now a terribly depraved being, going 
about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may 
devour ; and the capitol or seat of his empire, 
which astronomy has not yet been able to locate, 
is called Hell. Such is the origin of the Christian 
Devil and Hell, and neither ever had any other or 
different orio:in. 

The fallen spirits were conquered but not sub- 
dued, for they still breathed revenge and defiance, 
and considered Hell as a good place to plot and 
plan schemes to vex and annoy their great adver- 
sary, and with a possible chance that they might 
eventually overcome him, or drive him into some 
desperate condition, and compel a reasonable com- 
promise. 

About this time, as the story goes, God had 
created Adam and Ev^e, by whom he expected to 
raise an innumerable race of intelligent beings, 
who would ever be willing and ready to love, 
honor and worship him, and sing his praises. He 
laid out a beautiful garden, *Svith walks and 
shades, fit haunt for gods," which he called Par- 
adise ; ornamented it with flowers, filled it with 
trees bearing every kind of fruit that could please 
the eye, or that was good for food, and placed 
them in it, " to dress it and to keep it," and enjoy 
themselves. If he had done nothing more, proba- 
bly everything would have gone right. But im- 
pelled, of course, by infinite wisdom and goodness, 
he planted in the midst of the garden a certain 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSES. 99 

other tree, which bore fruit tliat was most tempt- 
ing of all to the eye, but forbade them to touch it. 
Those innocent beings undoubtedly looked upon 
it with j^reat lonsjinuj. Their mouths watered to 
taste it, and the prohibition probably increased 
their desire. But when God placed them there 
he told them, *' Of every tree in the Garden thou 
mayst freely eat, but of the tree of the knowl- 
edge of orood and evil which is in the midst of the 
garden thou shalt not eat, for in the day thou 
catest thereof thou shalt surely die." With this 
injunction he left them to themselves, and went 
home to heaven. 

It seems a little singular that this God, pos- 
sessed, as it is claimed, of infinite wisdom, and hav- 
ing millions of cherubim and seraphim, all warlike 
spirits, around his tlirone, with nothing to do but 
sing his praises, and knowing the desperate char- 
acter of the beings he had expelled from heaven, 
and sent out to roam the universe, did not detail 
a few of those warlike spirits to guard that beau- 
tiful Garden and those innocent beino^s against 
the wiles and schemes of such adversaries. He 
could have spared and surrounded the place with 
legions, that would have been delighted to fight 
their hated enemies. But he did nothing of the 
kind. 

The rebel spirits held a council of war. Satan 
was seated " high on his throne of royal state," 
;ind the members of his cabinet were all present. 



lOO VINDICATION OF TUB TRUE GOD 

Each delivered a speech upon the general situa- 
tion, and particularly upon the question as to 
how they might most vex and annoy their great 
enemy, and, if possible, overpower him, or defeat 
some of his schemes. Moloch was for open war. 
Belial and Mammon were more politic. They 
were opposed to a useless war, and advised to try 
and make themselves comfortable where they 
were. But Beelzebub suggested there was 

*' Another world, the happy seat 
Of some new race called man," 

and advised that they had better bend their 
thoughts to learn what kind of creatures lived 
there, and what might be done, " by force or 
subtlety," to interfere and thwart God's plan in 
regard to them. This gave universal satisfaction. 
The scheme was adopted, and Satan at once vol- 
unteered to attend to tlie business single-handed 
and alone. At this the trumpets blew, and all 
Hell resounded with acclamations and loud ap- 
plause. Satan immediately started on the mis- 
sion, and so became our Great Devil. 

He landed upon this planet, readily found Par- 
adise, hopped over the high walls without let or 
liindrance, and perched high up on the tree of 
life, and " there sat like a cormorant," surveying 
the field, and planning his attack. Soon he is in 
the bower 

" Squat like a toad close at the ear of Eve," 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSKS. lOI 

inspiring her with naughty dreams. After awhile 
he assumes the form of an erect, fascinating, and 
beguiling serpent, and manages to meet Eve as 
she is walkins: alone, and enters into conversation 
with her. He directs her attention to the " fruit 
of that forbidden tree," and wonders w'hy she 
does not })artake of it. She informed him, " God 
has said to us, Ye shall not eat of it lest ye die ; 
for in the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt 
surely die." Since we have discovered the origin 
of Satan, and that he was the serpent, a fact 
which Moses never heard of, we may substitute 
his name. So Satan said to her, '* Ye shall not 
surely die," for " God knows that in the day ye 
eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened, and ye 
shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." He 
thus contradicted what God told them. Satan's 
council prevailed with Eve, and, as the poet puts 

** Her rash hand in evil hour 
Forth reaching to the fruit, she pluck'd, she ate, 
Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her seat. 
Sighing through all her works, gave signs of woe 
That all was lost." 

It seems that Satan was the most truthful. It 
did not kill her, but, on the contrary, she had 
never '' tasted such delight," and she hastened to 
take some of the fruit to Adam, and easily per- 
suaded him to eat also. The awful crime was 
then committed, — the terrible fatal deed was done, 



I02 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

This IS Adam's fall, the fall of man, which occa- 
sioned the great scheme of Redemption. Now, 
taking the Bible view of the matter, what did God 
do about it? The only account that was ever 
attempted to be given before the Christian era of 
what God did, is in the third chapter of Genesis. 
Soon after this transgression,. God was "heard 
walking in the Garden in the cool of day " ; dis- 
covered what had been done, and called them to 
account. Adam excuses himself by saying, " The 
woman thou gavest to be with me, she gave me 
of the tree, and I did eat " ; and Eve said, " The 
serpent beguiled me, and I did eat " ; and so the 
fault was passed from one to another. 

Now, if God had then immediately, on that 
very day, killed them both, as he said he would, 
or retired them, and allowed them to live and die 
childless, and started with a new pair, all trouble, 
if there was any, would have ended then and 
there, and no scheme of Redemption involving 
the crucifixion of God could have been founded 
upon it. But what did he do ? He first doomed 
the serpent to craiol. It is most likely, if there 
is any truth in the story, that God knew as well 
as modern divines whether this serpent was only 
a snake, a cunning beast, or whether it was Sa- 
tan. According to Moses, he treated it as a 
snake, and never intimated that Satan had any- 
thing to do with the matter. And the punish- 



AGAINST THK GOD OF MOSKS. I03 

inents pronounced upon Adam and Eve were 
personal to themselves alone, and there is not the 
slightest intimation that their posterity would be 
held responsible for it, or in any way affected by 
it. All to the contrary is a mere fiction of priest- 
craft, and there could not be, and is not, the 
slightest foundation for it in justice, reason, or 
even in the Bible, or any tradition. 

Besides, if the posterity of Adam and Eve should 
possibly have been rendered any way responsible, 
the total destruction, that is claimed, of all man- 
kind by the flood would have been ample expia- 
tion. But, notwithstanding all this, modern priest- 
craft insists that the sin of Adam, which was 
caused by Satan, affected all his posterity, and 
rendered it necessary for God to devise a scheme 
of redemption, which involved the necessity that 
either he himself or his dear Son, who was in 
every respect his equal, should at some conven- 
ient time appear in person on earth, in a human 
form, as a poor mendicant, be spit upon and 
scourged and crucified by men, as the only way 
divine wisdom could devise to render it possible 
for a small portion of mankind to be cleansed of 
the sin Adam committed centuries before they 
were born ; and as to personal sins, be placed in 
a condition to work out their own salvation with 
fear and trembling. But that even this scheme 
would not be of any avail, except to those who 



I04 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

heartily believe that it would be or had been fully 
carried out by the crucifixion of Jesus ; involving, 
of course, a belief that Jesus was in truth and 
fact the truly begotten Son of God, etc. 

The theory of the scheme is : First, that all the 
posterity of Adam are equally guilty with him for 
his act of disobedience, and for it richly deserve 
everlasting punishment. Second, that by some 
queer fiction of divine law the suffering and cru- 
cifixion of a human body, into which God or his 
dear Son might temporarily concentrate himself, 
(he being immortal,) would be equivalent to the 
everlasting punishment of all mortals. That in 
this way the law, which required their everlast- 
ing punishment, would be fully vindicated and 
expiated, so that God would appear to have justly 
executed the penalty, and could of free grace jus- 
tify and save harmless all who truly believe that 
he has so suffered and been crucified ; but that 
it can be of no avail to those who do not so be- 
lieve. 

It is certain that no such scheme was ever pub- 
lished or made known to man before the Chris- 
tian Era, notwithstanding the talk about the faith 
of the old patriarchs ; none of them ever heard a 
word about it. There is no historic fact or plau- 
sible tradition to support it. It is founded wholly 
upon the arrogant assumptions of modern divines, 
which are nothing but priestcraft aided by Grecian 



AGAINST THK GOD OF MOSKS. I05 

mythology and poetic imagination. The assump- 
tions are: 

1st. That they have discovered something that 
their God never thought of, and that is, tliat the 
serpent which beguiled Eve was not a snake, as • 
God supposed he was, but Satan himself, the 
great rebel, that was expelled from heaven, and so 
disojuised tliat God did not recognize him. 

2nd. Tliat the punisliment which God pro- 
nounced upon Adam and Eve was not severe 
enough ; and they have taken tlie liberty to amend 
his judgment, and insert, in place of the punish- 
ment he pronounced, everlasting damnation for 
them and all their posterity. 

3rd. That God has heretofore had trouble in 
his family circles, as mortals often have ; that in 
consequence there was once a terrible w^ar in 
heaven, which resulted in tlie expulsion of many 
of his most intimate and influential friends, who 
afterwards gathered in some outside locality 
which made a hell ; and that the chief rebel then 
became the Great Devil, who afterwards, by his 
wiles, caused the disobedience of Adam, which 
necessitated the adoption of the scheme of re- 
demption that involved the necessary crucifixion 
of God or his only Son. 

Such are the assumptions of modern divines, 
and the pages of heathen mythology furnish no 
parallel to them for superstitious and ridiculous 
absurdity. 



Io6 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

Of course, it all hinges upon the question 
whether there ever was a war in heaven, and an 
expulsion therefrom of some of its former inhab- 
itants. If there was no uar, then there is no 
Devil and no Hell, and the scheme of Kedemp- 
tion falls to the ground ; for without a hell, a 
place of everlasting punishment, there could be 
no use for it, — nothing to which it could be 
applied. It would be like the aforesaid sawmill 
in a desert where there was nothing to saw. 

But the scheme of itself contains many absurd- 
ities which clearly betray its human origin. 

1st. To make men guilty or amenable for 
sins committed by their ancestors, before they 
were born, would be the use and gross abuse of 
arbitrary power, of which the True God could not 
possibly be guilty. 

2nd. No such punishment is intimated, or can 
be reasonably inferred, from the sentence God is 
reported to have pronounced upon Adam and Eve. 
It was all personal to themselves alone, and no 
mention is made of their posterity. 

3rd. If the general of an army should be so 
outwitted, outgeneraled, and driven to such straits 
in order to save a few of his soldiers, as to render 
it necessary for him to deliver himself up to the 
enemy to be crucified, common intelligence would 
conclude that he was pretty thoroughly whipped. 
Did Satan so outgeneral and outwit God Almighty? 



AGAINST THK GOD OF MOSKS. 107 

4th. Well kuowinoj the kind of beinorg he ban- 
ished from lieaven, and that they would certainly 
do all in their power to vex and annoy him, it 
would show a negligence, want of sagacity, and 
abilty to govern on the part of God which would 
disgrace a militia officer, not to effectually guard 
and defend Paradise and the innocent beings he 
placed there against the wiles of such an adver- 
sary, and with that tempting tree in full view. 
The True God would not have been guilty of such 
negligence. 

5th. Another evidence that the scheme was 
not devised by infinite wisdom is the fact that 
its efficacy is made to depend upon helief. It 
made it a necessary condition that this remarka- 
ble story should be believed by men endowed with 
reason, or all that suffering would have no saving 
effect. Then, what is helief? Belief is an in- 
voluntary operation of the mind, depending upon 
and controlled by evidence, and of itself lias no 
moral quality whatever. If the evidence presented, 
no matter whether it be strong or weak, true or 
false, be such as to convince and convict, and it 
does convict, the mind cannot fail to believe. It 
has no choice In the matter, is not its own master 
in that respect, and the will cannot control it. It 
must and will believe. Whereas, on the contrary, 
If the evidence does not convince, Is so mixed up 
with strange and unnatural occurrences and prop- 



I08 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

ositions as to confound the judgment, the mind 
cannot believe, though threatened with the rack 
or faggot, or hell-fire: such threats may make 
hj^pocrites, but not true believers. Therefore, be- 
lief has no moral quality, any more than the beat- 
ing of the heart, the winking of the eye, or any 
other involuntary motion or emotion. And to 
make the efficacy of a scheme of salvation to de- 
pend upon such an involuntary action, having no 
moral character, shows that it could not have 
been devised by infinite wisdom. 

6th. It is impossible to believe tliat the true 
God, who has untold millions of worlds to take care 
of, — one who must be at one and the same time 
and always present at each and every point in his 
vast dominions, — could, or would if he could, con- 
centrate himself for years in a human body on 
this planet, to be spit upon, scourged and cruci- 
fied to save man from any merited punishment. 
Besides, if he could and did, he certainly could 
not have suffered any pain in the act. It is im- 
possible that God should suffer pain at all ; cer- 
tainly, not more at any one time than at all times, 
for he is unchangeable. And the idea that God 
could die or suffer pain is too absurd and ridicu- 
lous to be thought of. 

7th. Justice could not be satisfied by the pun- 
ishment of the just for the unjust. It cannot be 
satisfied with simply so much suffering , but re- 



AGAINST THK GOD OF MOSES. IO9 

quires that the guilty should bear it, and that is 
more absolutely necessary than the suffering itself. 

8th. No human being could commit an act 
that could justly merit everlasting torment. Pun- 
ishment can be justly inflicted only for the pur- 
pose of example, or for reformation, and eternal 
torment could not answer for either. 

These considerations are sufficient to prove 
that the great scheme of redemption is not of 
Divine origin ; and w^hen we find that it is 
founded upon and has nothing whatever to sup- 
port it but the theory that there has been a war 
in heaven, which is a ridiculous absurdity, — only 
a distortion and attempt to christianize heathen 
mytholog}^ we must come to the conclusion that 
it is nothing but an invention of priestcraft. 

To say that the stories in Genesis are allegori- 
cal or symbolic — that the language is mystic — 
that they do not say what they mean, and are 
not to be understood literally as they read, but 
that they contain a hidden meaning, which re- 
quires interpretation and explanation, only makes 
the matter still worse. This would prove that 
they were designed so as to require the services 
of a hired priesthood, pretending to be inspired 
by God, to interpret them, and that would at once 
stamp it all as a human invention. It must be 
supposed that God was able to say what he 
meant : and if he said anything, that he would 



no VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

say what he tneant, and what he meant to be 
understood as meaning; and further, that he 
would say what he intended in so plain a manner 
that men of ordinary capacity might understand 
it, without being obliged to pay interpreters. 
This is the grand secret of all the systems of 
religion. They are designed and organized to 
require and hence to support a hired priesthood ; 
that is the only use there is for them, and there- 
fore it is plain that they are not of Divine ori- 
gin. The stories in Genesis undoubtedly give 
the exact idea and belief the writer had about 
what he relates and describes ; the absurdity and 
untruthfulness of the stories are owing entirely to 
his want of knowledoe. 

But without reo-ard to reason or common 
sense, frenzied and infatuated superstition adopted 
and maintained a belief in the God of Moses, the 
Immaculate Conception, the Resurrection, the 
Immortality of the Soul, the old personal friend 
and boon companion of God now turned into a 
raging Devil, and a terrible Hell, with its lake of 
fire and brimstone ; and this became the estab- 
lished doctrine of all Christendom. We will 
presently see how it worked under a perfect and 
powerful organization. 



AGAINST THK GOD OF MOSliJS. Ill 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The Church in Operation. 

There was still one important matter that re- 
mained to be settled, and that related to the per- 
sonality of Jesus, — whether he was in fact God 
or man. Human reason, learning, ingenuity and 
superstition exerted all their powers on the sub- 
ject, and thousands of prayers were addressed to 
God and his reputed Son, imploring them to settle 
it. But God gave no response, and Jesus also 
remained perfectly silent. So, at length, in the 
year 325, as a last resort, a council of bishops was 
called at Nicea, and the question was there sub- 
mitted for them to determine. 

Thei^e was a great deal of very acrimonious de- 
bate upon the subject, but on the question being 
put to vote, a majority by their votes declared and 
decided that this Jesus was " the Son of God, be- 
" gotten of the Father, of the same substance of 
" the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very 
"God of very God, begotten not made, being of 
" one substance with the Father, by whom all 
*' things were made," etc. Thus the good Jesus, 
in a little less than three hundred years after his 
crucifixion, was by a decree of bishops apothoe- 



112 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

sized and made into God ; but he lias never 
tliankcd them for the honor they conferred upon 
him, or given notice that he accepted the position. 

However, the election was not unanimous, for 
Arius and many other learned and good men 
warmly protested against it, but to no purpose. 
Tlie vote of that majority in that council settled 
the queslion, of course, beyond doubt, that Jesus 
is God, and its decision has ever since been the 
distinguishing doctrine of all orthodox churches ; 
and a full and hearty belief of it is declared by 
them to be necessary for salvation, and to doubt 
it is damnable heresy. If anything more absurd 
and ridiculous was ever done in an assembly of 
learned men, it remains yet to be discovered. 

With this the great Catholic Church became 
established, and Rome became the seat of its em- 
pire; and then, as the legitimate and necessary 
consequence of its doctrines and teachings, a 
cloud, more appalling than the fabled Egyptian 
darkness, began to settle, and spread its gloomy pall 
over the whole civilized world. There was a screat 
rush into the priesthood, where easy professional 
services would secure a good livelihood. The 
celibacy of the clergy was decreed. Priests were 
not allowed to marry. But this, so far from se- 
curing purity of life, only opened the whole field 
to lust and profligacy, and no pot dared to call a 
kettle black. Convents, monasteries and nunner^ 



AGAINST THK GOD OF MOSKS. II3 

ies multiplied. Jesuitical and numerous other 
societies were formed, and all tlie members, to- 
gether with priests, monks, friars, and nuns, were 
spread thick over all Christendom ; all zealously 
engaged in preaching and promoting the doctrines 
and superstitions of the holy Catholic Church. It 
was a matter of business and personal interest 
with them — the means by which they gained a 
livelihood. The number so eno^asced was enor- 
mous. They correspond with the large body of 
priests and levites which Moses cunningly organ- 
ized, so as to make their duty to support his sys- 
tem exactly coincide with tlieir personal interest 
to support themselves. It was a great stroke 
of policy with Moses, and is the whole secret of 
tlie power that supported that system and insured 
success. It was the same witli the Catholic Church. 
It is that personal interest of tlie priesthood, in- 
chiding monks, friars, nuns, Jesuits, etc., as a 
kind of levitical adjunct, to support themselves, 
which has and still does sustain the Church, and 
give it all its power. 

Soon the great truth (than which there is none 
more certain) that "ignorance is the mother of 
devotion," was fully realized. I do not say that 
it was directly taught. It was unnecessary, for it 
was obvious then, as it is now, to everybody ; but 
it was recognized. Learning is too inquisitive; left 
to itself it inquires after courses and reasons. It 



114 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

was necessary for religious purposes that it should 
be bridled and curbed. Therefore, education was 
not encouraged by the church, nor was it allowed, 
except when thoroughly spiced, seasoned and fla- 
vored with the mummeries and superstitions of the 
priests. The minds and consciences of men were 
fettered and enslaved. Science was forbidden to 
publish her discoveries, knowledge was suppressed 
and gross ignorance prevailed. Unbelievers were 
persecuted and robbed, — heretics were tortured 
and burned, — every art was employed to bring 
revenue to the church. To this end all priests 
and their levitical assistants, monks, friars, nuns, 
Jesuits, etc., exerted themselves to foster and 
promote superstition among the people. Rosaries 
were introduced to assist them to count, and be 
reminded of the saints. They gathered and 
paraded manufactured relics of old saints to in- 
crease reverence ; pretended to work miracles, and 
by these means induced the people to contribute. 
The poor pinched themselves of the necessaries of 
life to contribute their mites. The rich made 
large donations to secure their salvation. Many 
contributed bountifully while living, and many 
dying bequeathed, some large legacies, and others 
all their estates to the church. Purgatory was 
invented, and masses for praying departed souls 
through it was a fruitful source of income, for 
they all had to be paid for in advance. Pardons 



AGAINST THE) GOD OF MOSES. II5 

for crimes that had been committeLl, and for all 
moral faults, were sold at established prices ; and 
dispensations, or full pardons, for contemplated 
crimes, which had not been but were intended to 
be committed, were bargained for and sold for 
money. 

In this way, the church became rich and pow- 
erful. The nightmare of superstition spellbound 
all sorts and conditions of men. Kings, queens, 
princes and nobles, as well as all other classes, fell 
under the same influence. All contributed to the 
church ; all bowed, with humble reverence to the 
Pope of Rome, and submitted abjectly to his dom- 
ination. No one dared to do anything that he 
would not sanction ; excommunication was feared 
and dreaded, as what they then believed to be the 
final doom of the damned. It would surely call 
down upon them the dire vengeance of heaven. 
And this hellish gloom of darkness spread over 
and rested upon all Europe, and parts of Asia 
and Africa, for more than a thousand years. If 
the good Jesus could have looked in upon this 
scene, how aptly might he have said : *' My house 
is called the house of prayer, but ye have made 
it a den of thieves." 

At length Martin Luther broke this spell, and 
shook and astonished the reli":ious world. This 
bold reformer dared to think and reason, to ex- 
press and publish his thoughts. That opened 



I 1 6 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

the eyes of other men, and they began to think 
and reason and talk, and at once their shackles 
fell. This broke the power of Rome, shattered 
that great Rock, as with a blast of dynamite, in- 
to fragments, and shook it to its center, and it be- 
gan to disintegrate. The chief good of the 
reformation was to unfetter mind and free it from 
the thralldom of religious superstition. It for- 
ever broke the power of religion over mind. 
Once free, it was sure to remain so. Reason left 
to itself will find truth, and truth unshackled Avill 
work her way to drive out error. The immedi- 
ate effect was to provoke bloody persecutions, for 
it could not be supposed that the vast multitudes 
that w^ere being fed and supported by the church 
would give up without a struggle. All the frag- 
ments of the great rock took with them the same 
God and his reputed Son, and formed into differ- 
ent sects. Each sect claimed to be the true 
original rock, and all there was of it ; and if it 
had had the power, it would have done just 
about the same as Rome had done. It would 
have considered that it was doing God service to 
destroy and cut off all opponents, as thoroughly 
as the Israelites did in Canaan. 

That is the nature of a false religion. Each 
assumed to be God's chosen people, and employed 
to establish his kingdom on earth. They were 
all unanimously bitterly opposed to Rome, and 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSES. II7 

could be relied upon to figlit her under any cir- 
cumstances. But, fortunately, they were so 
jealous of each other, it was impossible to com- 
bine themselves into a single force. This fact 
secured the general safety of mankind, as it does 
Tiow. For however fairly and smoothly they 
may talk about the blessings of religious liberty, 
it would be found on close scrutiny that each 
sect thinks it is a good thing to have liberty to 
preach its own doctrines, but is doubtful about 
the policy of allowing some other sects to do the 
same. It is obvious if either could get the power 
to prevent it, no other would have the license. 
This is the natural tendency of bigotry, which is 
the child of superstition. The same old leaven 
and the same old bigotry are clearly developed 
before us, rigJit noto^ near the close of this nine- 
teenth century, in the trial of Dr. Briggs for 
heresy — for daring to doubt the literal accuracy, 
the absolute inerrency and infallibility of portions 
of the old testament. This proves that the religious 
sects are all on a wrong basis. They preach charity 
but have none. They are all founded on the false 
pretences of Moses — on faith in Moses instead of 
faith in God. They are following false ideas of 
God, that he is like man, and advocating false 
systems. If it were not so, they would harmon- 
ize with freedom of thought and freedom of action 
— with rational diversions and amusements which 



Il8 VINDICATION OP THE TRUE GOD 

are necessary to a healthy development of both 
tlic physical and mental natures, and with all the 
best interests of mankind. But they do not; 
they are discordant with the nature of man, whicli 
proves that they are not true. They are selfish 
and bigoted, divided into different sects, differing 
about what each claims to be essential. A house 
so divided against itself cannot stand. So the 
work of disintegration, which began over three 
hundred years ago, is slowly but surely going on, 
and must continue until all the old doctrines are 
entirely done away with. The manhood of God, 
the fabulous stories about a war in heaven, a 
hell, a great personal devil, the scheme of salva- 
tion, the divine paternity of Jesus, and the story 
of his resurrection, must all pass away as phan- 
toms of a superstitious imagination. 

The old doctrines are still persistently main- 
tained in the pulpits, but not in the pews. They 
are all honeycombed at the foundation, for the 
people do not believe. They go to church as a 
matter of habit, or to see tlie fashions. They be- 
come members, and contribute to its support. 
Every Sunday, thousands on their bended knees 
solemnly declare, " I believe in the resurrection of 
the body." It is In the form, and they repeat it 
after the minister, — it is in fact the doctrine of 
the church — but does anybody believe it? And 
worse yet, in some churches even now the priests 



AGAINST THK GOD OF MOSES. 119 

every Sunday claim and pretend that for and on 
behalf of their people they eat a piece of the 
very body of Jesus Christ, manufactured on the 
spot, and drink some of h'l^real, true bloody which, 
by some kind of magic, they make out of pure 
wine without chanorinor the vinous flavor. Some 
may doubt this assertion, and I do not wonder at 
it, for it seems too incredible to be believed by 
liuman beings, but nevertheless it is strictly true. 
*• 'T is true, ' t is pity, and pity ' t is, ' t is true," 
for it shows to what a depth of nonsense super- 
stition may degrade the human intellect. But all 
these things are passing away — " Mene, Mene, 
Tekel, Upharsin," is written all over them. 

The churches may flatter themselves that they 
are growing in strength and power — but they are 
not. Their doctrines, theories and organizations 
are but a mere shell, and very thin ; nothing but 
a bubble, inflated with superstition; for the peo- 
ple do not believe. They are looked upon as 
absurd ; the stories in the Bible, for the most 
part, are regarded only as mythological fables. 
So the work of disintegration is quietly but surely 
going on among all thinking people, and prepar- 
ing for a final exit of all the old superstitions and 
mythological doctrines. 

But, notwithstanding all I have said, I am 
bound to remark here that it is not to be assumed 
or thought that all who have believed in and 



I20 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

earnestly supported tlie Mosak; and Christian sys 
terns were bad men, hypocrites, and evil disposed 
persons, doing what they knew to be wrong, for 
they were not by any means ; they were simply 
deluded and deceived. There have been thou- 
sands upon thousands of truly great, good and 
true men, who have heartily believed and zeal- 
ously supported both. As the field was much 
larger, many more are found among Christians 
than among Hebrews. To attempt to number 
them would be like attempting to count the stars. 
I will allude to only one as a sample of many, 
and that one is the noble old hero known as St. 
Paul. He, too, was a Jew, a learned man, and 
after the " most straiohtest sect of his reliofion, 
he lived a Pharisee " — a believer in a resurrec- 
tion. He was a sincere and earnest believer of 
Moses and the Prophets. He was living at the 
time of the crucifiixon of Jesus, and with others 
of his countrymen believed that Jesus taught doc- 
trines that were subversive of their system. 
When he heard the claim to Immaculate Concep- 
tion and the Resurrection, he looked upon it as 
blasphemous, and thought that such teaching 
ought to be suppressed ; and armed with author- 
ity from the chief priests he undertook to do it. 
He was the same good, earnest man then that he 
afterward was, for he verily believed that he was 
doing right. But on looking more carefully into 



AGAINST run GOD OF MOSES. 121 

the writings of Moses and the Pi^oj^hetSj and par- 
ticularly inquiring more about the life and teach- 
ings of Jesus, he became convinced that he was 
wrong, and that Jesus must be the very person 
spoken of by the prophets, who should come to 
redeem Israel. He at once became a firm, zeal- 
ous and sincere believer, and devoted his life with 
energy to support and maintain that doctrine ; and 
to his preaching and personal labors, more than 
all others, Christianity is indebted for its start in 
the world. And if it could have been kept under 
the influence and control of just such men, it 
would, no doubt, have done much good, notwith- 
standing it was based upon a false and imaginary 
foundation. For almost any system, under the 
exclusive guidance and control of real good men, 
will work well for mankind. Hence, it is con- 
ceded that an absolute monarchy, if it could 
always be sure of havino: a real sood man at the 
head, is the best of all governments. 

It may be conceded that St. Paul was some- 
what superstitious. Superstition may be a de- 
fect, but it is not a crime ; and it cannot be treas- 
ured up as a fault ngjunst any one, for all men 
are more or less superstitious. 

But some superstitions have naturally and nec- 
essarily a bad tendency and a bad influence upon 
mankind, and our effort and object should be to 
hunt out all such, apply the torch of reason to 



122 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

tliem, and burn them out. So, while we may 
admit that St. Paul was superstitious, believed 
in and sup})orted a system wholly founded on 
superstition, and taught some things, such as the 
doctrines of election, pretention, etc., which are 
horrible to think of, and cannot be true, we can 
well afford to overlook all such things, and blow 
them to the winds as liusks and chaff. But, while 
we do this, let us take care not to blow aAvay and 
lose any ol" the good wheat. 

It is said of St. Paul, that he was rather inferior 
in personal appearance, — was short, bow-legged, 
bald-headed, blear-eyed, etc., — but in that dome 
of thought there resided a lofty mind, a grand 
and noble soul. The character of one who offers 
his life for a cause does not depend upon the 
question whether the cause is abstractly right or 
wrong, — whether it is founded upon fact or fiction. 
If he believes it is right, although his death does 
not prove it to be so, still he gives his life for 
what he believes to be right, and that ennobles 
the sacrifice. Paul believed that his cause was 
right, and with what a sublime resignation he 
submitted to the cruel decree of the infamous 
Nero! As he writes to Timothy: '*I am now 
" ready to be offered, and the time of my departure 
"is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have 
'^finished my course, I have kept the faith." A 
noble ending of a noble life. He kept a faith 



AGAINST THK GOD OF MOSKS. 1 23 

that was dear to him and for which he gave his 
life, and he had a high hope of an everlasting 
life of happiness; but still there was something 
which he regarded as of much more importance 
than even this faith and this hope, and illustrated 
it in his life; and in proof of this I will quote his 
own words. 

'' Though I speak with the tongues of men and 
of angels and have not charity, I am become as a 
sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though 
I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all 
mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have 
all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and 
have not charity, I am nothing. And though I 
bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though 
I give my body to be burned and have not charity, 
it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long 
and is kind. Charity envleth not, vaunteth not 
itself, is not puffed up. Doth not behave itself 
unseemly, sceketh not her own, is not easily pro- 
voked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, 
but rejoiceth in the truth. And now abide Faith, 
Hope and Charity, these three, but the greatest 
of these is Charity.''^ 

Tiiere is the ring of the true metal. Even 
with him charity was of more consequence than 
faith and hope. And it is not limited and con- 
fined to giving old clothes and cold pieces to the 
poor, but consists of a high, noble, ardent desire, 



124 VINDICATION OF THE TRUK GOD 

coupled with energetic, self-denying, persistent 
action, to promote the general good, well being, 
comfort and happiness of all mankind. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Moses and His Traditions. 

We now come to inquire more particularly 
about the God of Moses and the creation. What 
did Moses believe in regard to creation ? What 
kind of a being did he believe and represent God 
to be ? How were those opinions formed ? Is it 
possible that Moses represented the True God ? 
What were his pretences in regard to God, and 
were those pretences honest and true? And with 
what right is such a being as Moses represented 
God to be now set up and claimed to be the True 
God? 

There is no evidence that any God had any per- 
sonal meeting and talked with Moses, or ordered, 
directed and promised to assist him to do any- 
thing, except the word of Moses himself, if we 
have even so much as that. Nobody else ever 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSES. 1 25 

saw any meeting or heard aiay conversation be- 
tween them. He had it all in his own exclusive 
power to say wliat he pleased about God, without 
the possibility of any contradiction, for all his 
pretended interviews were private, with himself 
alone. Under such circumstances, and consider- 
ing his stories are so inconsistent with human ex- 
perience, to form a correct and proper estimate 
of the weiglit and value of his testimony, we must 
consider the age in which he lived, the opinion 
and belief he had of creation and of God, all the 
circumstances that surrounded liim, and whether 
he had any motive to misrepresent. And, above 
all, we must inquire whether the things he pre- 
tended that God ordered and directed him to do, 
and promised to aid and assist him to do, were 
consistent with the character of the True God. If 
they were not, we may be sure that his pretences 
were false, without reference to motive. For God 
must be true to himself, though it make every 
man a liar. 

Moses was born and lived on the boundary line 
between oral tradition, handed down from gener- 
ation to generation, and written history, and was 
among the first to enter the historic age. All be- 
yond him was verbal tradition, and childish ignor- 
ance everywhere prevailed. He entered the his- 
toric age with all the ideas, notions, opinions and 
conceits which then generally prevailed in the 



126 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

world, and wliich were represented by traditions. 
They were probably first formed and shaped into 
stories in a still more remote, ignorant and child- 
ish age, but were doubtless revised and changed, 
or altered from time to time, as new light dawned 
upon them. Moses doubtless remodeled them 
somewhat to suit his own ideas and designs. 

At the early dawn of reason, mankind groping 
in darkness sought to discover the cause and 
origin of what they saw around them. They had 
not the slightest suspicion that there was anything 
of creation but the earth, the sun. moon and the 
firmament, with the little supposed insignificant 
bright spots they saw in it at night. They 
readily conceived that everything must have had 
a beginning, and hence that all those things, in- 
cluding man and beast, must have been created, 
and consequently must have had a creator. From 
this they came to the conclusion that there must 
be some great unseen power or being that had 
done all this work. 

After concluding that there was a creator, they 
could not rest contentedly until the}^ imagined 
out how he did this work ; and also what kind of 
a being he was ; what were his form and nature 
and general characteristics, and where he lived. 
Different people in different localities were doing 
the same thing, and each formed its own peculiar 
ideas and notions. On these subjects they exer- 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSliS. 1 27 

cised their ignorant fancy and imagination, and 
formulated stories which were handed down ver- 
bally from generation to generation, and resulted 
in the creation of multitudes of imaginary or 
heathen gods. Then the whole world was pagan, 
worshiping such gods as they had created by their 
own imaginations. 

When Jacob, after serving his uncle Laban in 
Haran twenty years, clandestinely stole away to 
return to Caanan, his wife Rachel stole her father's 
gods and took them with her. Laban was sorely 
aorcrrieved at this, — made a great ado about it, 
— and hastily pursued, to recover those sacred 
images. This proves that La ban's family, and 
consequently his ancestors and family connec- 
tions, were pagans. Abraham was very anxious 
that his son Isaac should take a wife from the 
same family, and he took Rebeckali, tlie sister 
of Laban ; and Jacob, following after, married 
the two daughters of Laban. As there were 
never any family jars on account of religion, the 
necessary inference is that x^braham, Isaac and 
Jacob and all family connections were pagans, — 
wor8hipi)ers of imaginary gods, and had and used 
images to represent them. Hence, their god was 
of the same genus or class as the gods of the 
Cunaanites and other pagan people, — all imagin- 
ary beings, and all served and worshipped in the 
same way. 



128 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

While they lived in Cana^m, they did not rise 
to the dignity of being a distinct people, but only 
one family. Rachel died soon after reaching 
Canaan, but, that left to Jacob her maid-servant, 
her sister Leah and her maid servant, all of whom 
Jacob treated as wives, and by all of whom lie 
had children. Then he had twelve sons, many of 
them probably married to Canaanite women, who 
had children and mnid-servants, and all these, 
together with other servants, male and female^ 
made up the family of seventy that migrated to 
Egypt. They all went there as pagans, and to a 
pagan country. 

Arriving in Egypt, the land of Goshen was 
allotted to them as a possession and a dwelling 
place. And there they lived for upwards of four 
hundred years. During this time they doubtless 
intermarried with and became more or less in- 
termixed with the Egyptians, but preserved their 
race distinction, and multiplied and grew into a 
distinct people, which in the time of Moses num- 
bered somewhere about two millions. They evi- 
dently retained their pagan ideas, and adopted 
the paganism of the Egyptians, and their mode 
of worship. Moses, under the auspices of the 
royal family, was brought up and educated as a 
pagan priest, and it is evident that his people 
were strongly attached to the Egyptian paganism. 
For, after they had gone into the wilderness, while 



AGAINST THK GOD OF MOSKS. 1 29 

Moses was up in Mount Sinai, manufacturing 
evidence to prove bis personal intimacy willi his 
God, the people clamored urgently for a God, and 
Aaron, to pacify them, made them a golden calf, 
which was an imitation of Apis, the chief God of 
the Egyptians, and with this they were ap[)eased. 
Moses was greatly dis[)leased at it, as it showed 
that the affections of the people had not been en- 
tirely weaned from the Egyptian gods, and wholly 
fixed upon him and the god he had created for 
them. 

While Moses, during the forty years he spent 
in the wilderness, was forming and perfecting his 
scheme to take his people from Egypt to Canaan, 
and there build up an independent nation with 
them, he conceived the idea that it would be 
proper and advisable for them to have a distinct 
and separate God, a national God of their own, as 
other peoples had. And consequently he invent- 
ed and created one for that purpose, and shaped 
all the stories and traditions which he relates to 
suit his ideas of such a God. lie created this 
God in a human form, with face, hands, feet and 
*' back parts," which he afterwards says he saw ; 
ascribed to him almighty power and a considera- 
ble wisdom, though not of the highest order ; but 
especially endowed him with many human frail- 
lies, such as partiality, jealousy, vanity, deceit, 
cruelty, revenge, etc.; located his private resi- 



130 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

dence up in the sky, wliere he was attended with 
a retinue of angels. His presence was limited to 
the locality of this personality, so that to be pres- 
ent at different places on the earth it would be 
necessary for him to " come down," and do more 
or less traveling ; and that at times he did " come 
down," and advise, consult and talk with human 
beings. Such is the kind of God which Moses 
represented to his people to be the God of Abra- 
ham, Isaac and Jacob, and required them to adopt 
and worship as their God. It must be noted, 
however, that he recognized the existence of oth- 
er gods, as conclusively appears in the first com- 
mandment, which says, " Thou shalt have no other 
gods before me ": that is, no other gods that you 
will prefer to or like better than me. 

All such ideas and representations of God are 
clearly pagan, and they could not possibly have 
had any other than a pagan origin. The fact 
that Moses represents him as the God of Abra- 
ham, Isaac and Jacob, and the God of the Israel- 
ites exclusively, and not the God generally of all 
mankind, but so particularly and exclusively the 
God of the Israelites as to be " an enemy of their 
enemies and an adversary? of their adversaries," 
and promising to " cut off and destroy all other 
people '' for their benefit, proves most conclusively 
that he was not the True God, but only an imag- 
inary pngan God, that Moses created for his peo- 
ple and his own use. 



AGAINST TIIK GOD OF MOSKS. 131 

Tliese views will be fully sustained by a critical 
examination of the record of the stories which 
Moses related, as showing what he believed, hia 
own actions, and all he said about his God. Some 
of these stories consist of traditions similar to 
those that had prevailed and been believed in 
different parts of the world before his day. But 
as they appear in Genesis, they were probably 
modified and changed considerably by him to suit 
his own ideas and his designs. None of them, how- 
ever, show that he was inspired with any scientific 
knowledge superior to what other pagans pos- 
sessed, nor do they show any more exalted ideas 
or conceptions of God than other pagans had of 
their gods. Each one, of course, claimed that 
his God was the great original Creator, and supe- 
rior to all other gods, except, other heathen did 
not ascribe to their gods, as Moses did to his, any 
such low attributes as jealousy and partiality, or 
charge them with the abominable cruelty of 
''cutting off and destroying" a whole nation of 
worthy people to give place to another people. 

The first of these traditions which Moses irives 
relates to the creation, which he says, was all done 
in six days. It is evident from the Fourth Com- 
mandment that he meant six ordinary, natural 
days. But it is of no consequence at present, 
whether in the tradition he really means days or 
periods. But it is to be remarked that he claims 



132 VINDICATION OF THE TRUK GOD 

that it was all done only about twenty-five hun- 
dred years before his time, which is evidently 
antagonistic to the discoveries of science. 

The order in which the work proceeded on the 
fifth and sixth days is what any ordinary mind 
might conceive after the globe was formed and 
sufficiently cooled, and therefore is of no import- 
ance. But the story relates that God created 
light on the first day, and nothing else. This was 
before he made any bodies that emit light. Per- 
haps we may not doubt that infinite power might 
have done so, but it seems to be rather an 
awkward mode of procedure and very improbable. 

The second day's work is the most remarkable 
of all, for he says on the second day God cre- 
ated a firmament in the midst of the waters, to 
divide the waters that were under the firmament 
from the waters that were above the firmament. 
That is undoubtedly just Avhat he meant and sup- 
posed to be the fact. This would necessarily im- 
ply that he supposed that the firmament was of 
some solid substance, and that it held back a body 
of water, and kept it from falling on to the earth. 
And he supposed that there were windows in this 
firmament that might be opened as occasion might 
require, and in the time of the great flood, as " all 
the foundations of the great deep'* did not fur- 
nish sufficient water to " cover all the high hills 
that were under the whole heaven," the windows 



AGAINST Tim GOD OF MOSES. 1 33 

of tliis firmament were opened, and the storage 
reservoir that was above the firmament was 
availed of to accomplish the work of destruction. 
The story about a firmament certainly is not true. 
Nothing of the kind, or that can be construed by 
allegory or figure of any kind to answer the place 
of it, ever existed except in the imagination of men 
that were ignorant of the true fact. Moses un- 
doubtedly believed it, or he would not have put 
it so into his account of creation. It appeared so 
to him and his ancestors. They had nothing to 
judge by but appearances, and so they believed. 
And if he could believe such a thing, what might 
he not believe ? 

On the third day, it says, the waters were gath- 
ered into seas, and dry land made to appear ; and 
on the same day, " the earth brought forth grass " 
and vegetation generally. The improbahle thing 
to be remarked about this day's work is, that it 
represents vegetation as flourishing before the sun 
was created. We may admit this as within the 
2Wicer of God, but, as a fact, very improbable. 

On the fourth day, as the story goes, God 
created the sun to rule the day, and the moon to 
rule the night, etc., and ''he made the stars also, 
and set them in the firmament of heaven, to give 
light upon the earth." That is all the stars were 
made for, according to Moses ; quite insignificant 
things, mere shining specks, set in the firmament 



134 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

as a jeweler would set tliamonds in a brooch, and 
to give light to the earth. 

Such, Moses supposed and believed, was the 
whole extent of creation, aside from man and 
beast ; and, as afterwards appears, that the earth 
was firmly and permanently fixed and established 
in one locality, that it was the only place of any 
importance in the universe, and that all other 
bodies, great and small, were created simply for 
the purpose of furnishing it with light. This, 
then, was the idea Moses had of creation, — that 
the earth was the only important body in the 
universe, that it was fixed immovably in a certain 
locality, and of some considerable size, but how 
large he had no idea. That over it, and some 
distance from it, there was a solid firmament, 
made to prevent the waters that were above it 
from flooding the earth ; that it had windows in 
it that might be opened, had been opened at the 
time of the flood ; and that it was spangled with 
some insignificant, light-giving objects, and thnt 
the sun and moon revolved around between the 
earth and firmament in whatever way they might. 
From such a situation Moses contemplated, im- 
agined, and formed his ideas of a God. 

Other traditions which Moses relates most 
clearly show what ideas he formed of the person- 
ality of his God, and what he thought of him. 
The one that comes next in order relates to the 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSES. 1 35 

creation of man. It declares that God made man 
in his own image and likeness out of the dust of 
the earth, and ''breathed into his nostrils the 
breatli of life, and he became a living soul." 
Soon after " he tliou2:ht it was not o-ood for man 
to be alone," so he caused a deep sleep to fall 
upon the man, who was named Adam, and while 
asleep " he took out one of his ribs, and dosed 
up the flesh instead thereof ^^^ and of the rib " he 
made a woman, and brought her unto the man." 
This story must have originated in a very child- 
ish and whimsical age, and also at a time when 
arrogance and presumption had free license to 
say what they pleased. The modern mode of 
accounting for the origin of man is much more 
plausible, and undoubtedly approximates much 
nearer to the fact. However, it establishes the 
fact that Moses conceived the idea that man was 
in the *' image and likeness" of God, and it fol- 
lowed as a necessary consequence, antl so he cre- 
ated his God in the image and likeness of man, 
possessed of infinite power, and, perhaps, more 
wisdom, but otherwise just like a man. Just 
such a being as he said he i^aw from the cleft in 
the rock, with face, hands, feet, and " back 
parts." 

This view is sustained b}'' tlie other parts of the 
story relating to Adam and Eve, and also by 
the other traditions. The story goes on to '-elate 



136 VINDICATION OF THK TRUE GOD 

tljat God planted a garden in the East, gives tlie 
exact boundaries, and caused to grow in it " every 
tree tliat was pleasant to the sight and good for 
food "; and also planted in the midst of the garden 
another peculiar tree, which he called *' the 
tree of knowledge of good and evil,'' and placed 
Adam and Eve in the garden " to dress it and 
keep it." He commanded them, saying, "Of 
every tree of the garden thou mayst freely eat, 
but of the tree of knowledo-e of orood and evil 
thou shalt not eat of it ; for, in the day thou eatest 
tliereof, thou shalt surely die." After thus talk- 
ins; with and o^ivino- them his commandment, he 
left them to enjoy themselves and went home. 

The Buddhists have a very similar tradition 
about the origin of man, but in place of the Gar- 
den of Eden which Moses speaks of, they say that 
tlie first pair was placed on the Island of Ceylon. 
This shows the wide prevalence of a tradition 
which Hose's shaped to suit his own purpose, and 
that was to enable him to trace the ancestry of 
his people to his first man, which is all simply 
imaginary. 

Moses gives no account of the creation, or any 
origin of a devil or a hell, and no such things 
were recognized in his system. His system had 
respect only to this life, and a future existence 
was not thought of. According to his story it 
seems to have pleased God to take Enoch home 



AGAINST THK GOD OF MOSES. 1 37 

with liiui, and it is afterwards related that he 
sent a fiery chariot to fetch Elijah up there also. 
But it is nowhere hinted that there was, or ever 
would be, any general migration from earth to 
heaven or Jiell^ or any other jylace^ either hefore 
or after death. The Hebrews, after the days of 
Moses, learned that the Gentiles recognized the 
existence of certain bad beings, — such as Satan, 
Moloch, Belial, Mammon, and Beelzebub, — but 
they had no place in their theocracy. The only 
villain the authors of the Mosaic traditions intro- 
duced in the great drama was the serpent, which 
is represented to be the most cunning of all beasts. 
And it is represented that this serpent appeared 
in the garden, and entered into conversation with 
Eve about this tree of knowledge. She told him 
what God had said and commanded concerning 
it. And he then as much as said that God had 
not told them the truth ; for, he said, God well 
knew that it would not kill them to eat of it ; nor 
would they die in consequence of eating of it ; 
but, on the contrary, it would ' ' open their eyes, 
and they would be as gods, knowing good and 
evil." The event proved that the ser[)ent was 
the most truthful. For after God discovered 
that they had eaten of the fruit, instead of killing 
them, as he said he would, on the very day, he 
only drove them out of the garden, and required 
them to go to work for a living, but allowed them 



138 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

to live to a good old age, and raise a large family 
of children. 

After eating of the fruit, God is represented as 
coming there. " He tocis heard walkmg in the 
garden in the cool of the day^'^ just like a gentle- 
man enjoying the evening zephyrs at his country 
seat. He calls aloud for Adam, and Adam ap- 
pears with Eve by his side, and he talks to them 
face to face, as a man would talk with his neigh- 
bors. He draws from them the confession that 
they had eaten of that tree. After listening to 
their excuses, and learning the circumstances of 
the case, he pronounces the several punishments 
for each offender. He punished Adam by curs- 
ing the earth, so that it would bring forth thorns 
and thistles and make it hard to cultivate, and 
doomed him as follows: " In the sweat of thy face 
shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the 
ground." Nothing is threatened or said relating 
to his posterity. 

Some fifteen or sixteen hundred years after 
those garden scenes are represented to have 
occurred, there happened, according to Moses, a 
great flood on a part of the earth occupied by 
the Semitic race. The fact that there was a 
flood does not prove that God had any such con- 
nection with it as stated in the tradition. It was 
not by any means as extensive as the Bible ac- 
count states, but to those on the spot it undoubt- 



AGAINST THK GOD OF MOSES. 1 39 

edij seemed to cover the whole earth. They had 
no correct idea of the extent of the eartli, but sup- 
posed it had but one side, that on vvliich they 
lived. They could not conceive it possible that 
human beings could live on, stand up, and walk 
about on the underside, like flies on a ceiling. 
Hence, they supposed that that flood covered the 
who'e earth ; and long after its occurrence they 
set to work to account for it, and finally elaborated 
a tradition from which Moses manufactures the 
one he gives in Genesis. 

His version represents that God became utterly 
disgusted with the whole race of mankind, which 
liad become quite numerous, and determined to 
destroy it, as appears from the following quota- 
lion : '' And God saw that the wickedness of man 
was great in the earth, and that every imagina- 
tion of the thoughts of his heart was only evil 
continually. And it re])ented the Lord that he 
had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at 
his heart.^' Then he had a personal interview 
with Noah, told him of his intention to destroy 
mankind, and ordered him to build an ark of 
gopher-wood, with rooms in it, and to pitch it 
within and without with pitch: gave him a plan 
with full and minute specifications. It was to be 
made with rooms so as to accommodate Noah 
and wife and their three sons with their wives ; 
also pairs of all living animals, and storage-room 



I40 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

for a good supply of provisions, for both man and 
beasts. " And Noah did according to all that 
God commanded him." When the Ark was com- 
pleted and stored with provisions, Noah and wife, 
his three sons and their wives, went aboard, took 
on pairs of all animals, and the craft was ready 
for the great cataclysm. Then, " in the six hun- 
diedth year of Noah's life, in the second month, 
the seventeenth day of the month, [very particular 
as to the exact date] the same day were the foun- 
tains of the great deep broken up, and the icin- 
dows of heaven loere opened. And the rain was 
upon the earth forty days and forty nights." *^ All 
the high hills that were under the whole heaven 
were covered, and all flesh and every man died," 
— except, of course, what were in the Ark. This 
ought to have been considered the full expiation 
of Adam's trangression. 

After the storm was over, Moses says God 
" came down " again, and Noah entertained him. 
He built an altar unto him, and took of clean 
beast and fowl, and offered burnt offerings to 
him. This fact is of no consequence, but, the 
statement which follows is of great importance, 
as showing the ideas which Moses had of God. 
It is as follows : " And the Lord smelled a sweet 
savour.'' The Lord is represented to have ex- 
perienced just the same kind of sensation that 
many a gentleman has experienced where good 



AGAINST the: GOD OF MOSES. I41 

meat was being roasted. " And tlie Lord smelled 
a sweet savour.'' Just think of it. How pleased 
and satisfied he must have been ! 

Then it is represented God made a covenant 
with Noah and sealed it with a rainbow, by which 
he promised never to destroy the world again. 
Gave it to Noah and his posterity, commanded 
him to be fruitful and multiply, and replenish 
the earth, and as^ain went home. 

It would seem that Noah did all that could 
have been reasonably expected of him in the 
matter of increasing and replenishing the earth 
with a new population, for in less than two hun- 
dred years the world was again pretty well filled 
with people. And this imagined God must have 
been considerably disappointed to find that the 
new race was no better than the one he had so 
mercilessly destroyed. As the story goes, he 
heard that the impious people of Shinar were 
building a tower, and designed that its top should 
reach up to heaven, and by that means they in- 
tended to invade and take possession of his pri- 
vate residence, as the giants did when they 
piled Pelion upon Ossa to get into Jupiter's 
heaven, and frightened the old fellow out of his 
wits. " So he came down to see it." After 
viewing the plan and witnessing the progress of 
the work for a while, he went back to consider. 
He came to the conclusion that the plan was 



142 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

feasible, and that they would accomplish their 
object unless he adopted some vigorous means to 
prevent it. So he reasoned, and said to his 
friends, '' Behold the people is one, (i. e. united,) 
and they have all one language ; and this they 
begin to do, and now nothing will be restrained 
from them, which they have imagined to do. 
Go to, (i. e. come on,) let us go down and there 
confound their language, that they may not un- 
derstand one another's speech." It is said that 
he did so, and consequently the work had to be 
abandoned. 

In all these stories in regard to the creation of 
the world or the creation of man, or of any of the 
work performed or the way in which it was done, 
or about the personality of God, his residence or 
his movements, there is not the trace of any- 
thing but Pagan ideas, notions and imaginings. 
But they show just the ideas and notions Moses 
had of those things. As Moses gives them and 
relates them (as modified by himself) as facts and 
as true stories, we must come to the conclusion 
that he believed them just as they read, and that 
they fairly represent and portray his views and 
belief. 

Absurd and ridiculous as all such ideas may 
seem to us now, a little reflection will show how 
easy and natural it was for [)eople in the days of 
Moses to believe them ; and he did not live in 



AGAINST TH^ GOD OI^ MOSES. 143 

the nineteenth century of the Christian era either, 
but some thirty-four centuries before, and when 
mankind were very ignorant, and trusted to their 
imaginations for facts. When we were children 
all these stories were read and taught to us. Our 
ancestors believed them as they read, and we fol- 
lowed in the wake, and believed them all to be 
literally true, as many Christians now do. Peo- 
ple did the same in the time of Moses. There 
was no talk of these stories being allegories in 
my young days, but real facts. When it becomes 
necessary to call them allegories, it is high time 
to throw them away and pronounce them fictions. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE ORIGIN OF THE GOD OF MOSES. 

As it is important to have and keep in view a 
correct and definite understanding of the real sit- 
uation and belief of Moses, and the kind of God 
lie imagined and formed as a National God for 
his people, I will here condense and summarize 
them as follows : 

Moses believed that this planet was the only 



144 VINDICATION OF THE TRUK GOD 

body in creation that was of any consequence, and 
tliat everything else was made for its benefit ; 
that it was firmly and permanently fixed in one 
locality ; that the firmament or sky overhead was 
created as it appeared of some solid substance, 
and made and fixed to prevent a body of water 
that he supposed to be above it from falling u[)on 
and submerging the earth. That there were 
windows in it which might be opened as occasion 
might require, and that at the time of the flcAod 
they were opened, and some of that water let out 
to aid in the work of destruction. That the sun 
and moon were created to regulate the seasons 
and give light to the earth ; and that the stars 
were also created to give light to the earth ; that 
they were very insignificant shining bodies, firmly 
set in the firmament. Tiiat God formed man out 
of the dust of the earth in the same way that an 
artist would form a model for a piece of statuary, 
and breathed into its nostrils the breath of life, 
and so he became a living soul. That, thinking 
it not good for man to be alone, God caused a 
deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and took a rib out 
of his side, '' and closed up the flesh instead there- 
of," and of this rib " made a woman, and brought 
her to the man." 

This is just what we might suppose an ignorant 
and childish people, who were intent upon account- 
ing for everything they saw, might imagine. 



AGAINST THK GOD OF MOSKS. 145 

They had nothing but tlieir imagination to rely 
upon for facts, outside of what they actually saw. 
It seemed probable enough, and Moses probably 
believed it about as he relates it ; just as we did 
when we were children, and just as many Chris- 
tians do now. Ko such place as hell was ever 
thought of in those days ; but Moses believed 
that there was a certain permanent locality up in 
the sky, between the earth and the firmament 
and not far off, called heaven, where God had 
established his throne and his private residence. 
Hence, when he had anything to do on eartli, 
that it would be necessary for him to "come 
down." Every heathan nation located its God 
up in about the same locality and in the same 
way. 

Moses claimed that his God was in the image 
and likeness of man, possessed almighty power 
and considerable wisdom ; but otherwise was like 
man, and had his general characteristics, includ- 
ing partiality, jealousy, vanity, liability to get an- 
gry and fly in a passion, etc.; that he occasionally 
left this heavenly mansion and " came down " to 
earth on official business, or to make friendly 
visits. He ''came down'' to make Adam, and to 
make a wife for him, and to settle them in the 
garden of Eden which he planted for them. That 
after Adam's transgression he came down again, 
was heard to be " walking in the sjarden in the 



146 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

cool of the day," and then discovered the great 
sin Adam and Eve had committed ; called them 
to account for it, and had several personal inter- 
views with them on the subject ; spoke a human 
language, and talked with them face to face, as a 
man would talk with his acquaintances. After- 
wards he " came down " to visit Noah, told him he 
intended to destroy mankind from the face of the 
earth, ordered him to build an ark of gopher- 
wood, and and gave him a plan with full and 
minute specifications. After the flood he ''came 
down " again, and enjoyed the smell of ''the sweet 
savor" of the meat Noah roasted for his enter- 
tainment, and made a covenant with Noah, by 
which he gave to Noah and his seed full control of 
the earth and all there was in it, and agreed never 
again to destroy the world. That still later his 
God "came down" to see what the peo[)le of 
Shinar intended to do with the tower they were 
building, and frustrated their designs by confound- 
ing: their lano-uage. 

It will not do for learned divines to hatch out 
and invent theories and suppositions that Moses 
said anything about the creation, which he did 
not suppose and believe to be the real facts ; that 
he said one thing when he meant another ; that 
his "six days'' meant six long periods; that he 
did not mean what he said about the firmament 
and the waters above it; that he did not mean 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSES. 1 47 

that Adam and Eve were made exactly as he de- 
scribes ; tliat he did not mean that God actually 
planted the Garden of Eden, and the tempting 
tree, called the tree of knowledge, in the midst of 
it; that he did not mean to be understood that 
God had a human form and the general charac- 
teristics of man ; that he sometimes left heaven 
and "came down" to earth, and had personal in- 
terviews with mankind, spoke a human language, 
talked with Adam and Eve and Noah, face to 
face, as one man would talk to another ; that it is 
all mystic language that requires interpretation ; 
that it was not intended to be understood by the 
common people until they paid priests to inter- 
pret it. It will not do to talk so in these days. 
It is obvious that Moses understood the meaning 
of the words he used, and if he at any time said 
one thing when he meant another, — used language 
to conceal his thought, or said what he did not 
mean, — that of itself would be sufficient to im- 
peach his testimony altogether; for it would be 
impossible for priests or anybody else to determine 
what he meant by what he said. If he did not 
mean just what he said, then why did he say any- 
thing ? 

And if it should be said that he was inspired by 
God to write as he diil, and that it was the inten- 
tion of God to have him hide the real truth in 
mystic language and allegorical stories, which 



148 VINDICATION OF THE TRUK GOD 

could not be understood without a skilled interpre- 
ter, tliat would make it still worse, — it would ac- 
cuse God of intent to deceive. Such an assump- 
tion as relates to the true God would be blasphemy. 
It is equivalent to charging liiin with deception, 
of whicli it is impossible tliat he should ever be 
guilty; or, what is quite as bad, of hiding his 
meaning in mystic language, so as to make it nec- 
essary to employ, and thus to support, a hired 
priesthood to interpret it. It is therefore only' 
fair and reasonable to take it for granted that in 
all he said about the creation of the world, tlie 
firmament, and Adam and Eve, ridiculous as it is, 
Moses related just wliat he imagined and believed 
to be the facts. There is no reason to suppose or 
believe that Moses had any other different ideas 
or opinions about those things than just exactly 
what he said. As corrected by him, they were 
substantially the notions and opinions of the age, 
and there is no evidence that Moses held any 
different opinions. His was the case of a man of 
great intellect, but whose knowledge was neces- 
sarily limited to what was then known in the 
world. He made no new discoveries. 

Now we know that his Ideas and belief in re- 
gard to the creation were wrong, inadequate, in- 
finitely below tlie facts, and we might naturally 
suppose that his ideas of God would be equally 
erroneous. Neither he nor his ancestors had any 



AGAINST THE GOD OP MOSES. I49 

re.isonable conception of the True God. They 
relied wlioUy upon their imaginations to idealize 
him, and their ideas were formed and founded on 
the basis that this world was all there was of 
creation. Of course, his presence wouid be con- 
fined vvitliin its limits. Tliey assigned him an 
elevated position in the sky, to enable him the 
better to observe what was j;()ingon below. That 
the earth and the people u])on it comprised every- 
thing that required his care and supervision. 
They as well as he invested God with a human 
form, as the highest excellence they could conceive 
of, and assumed that he must have the attributes 
and general characteristics of man. They could 
have no doubt that he might travel about, and 
visit any place as he pleased within the limits of 
that imagined creation. They had no idea that 
he was everywhere present at the same time. He 
could not possibly be without the ability to talk^ 
and it seemed natural to suppose that he could 
speak any human language in vogue. From such 
crude imaginings, in their endeavor to account 
for everything they saw or heard of, they formu- 
lated the stories about the creation of the world, 
the Garden of Eden, the creation of Adam and 
Eve, and all about the flood, (all probably modi- 
fied somewhat by Moses himself,) but all of which 
are manifestly the creatures of the pagan imagin- 
ation of an ignorant and childish age, but fully 
and fairly representing the belief of Moses, 



I50 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

Therefore, we must come to the conclusion that 
this God of Moses was conceived and born of the 
imagination of man, — created by the imagination 
in the same way, and by precisely the same pro- 
cess of reasoning, as Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune» 
Pluto, Apis, Osiris, and other heathen gods were 
created, and that he was the same kind of a being, 
no other or different, and so understood and be- 
lieved by Moses to be. And this view is confirmed, 
established and proved most conclusively by the 
general character and actions that are attributed 
to him, and the way or manner in which Moses 
used him. 

With such a God at his command, there were 
great possibilities for a cunning, shrewd politician 
like Moses. He might easily make an ignorant 
and superstitious people believe that such a God 
had " come down," and called to him from a bush 
that seemed to be on fire, or shown his " back 
parts" to him on the mountain, or done any other 
absurd and ridiculous thing. 

Three or four thousand years ago, it was be- 
lieved that when the gods " came down " to visit 
this world, they generally chose the tops of moun- 
tains" as their inns or stopping places, on the sup- 
position that they were nearer their home, and 
more readily accessible. A great poet, who did 
not pretend to be inspired, says early one rosy 



AGAINST THH GOD OF MOSliiS. 151 

"That Jove convened the Senate of the skies 
Where high Olympus' cloudy tops arise." 

And Parnassus Is famed as the favorite haunt of 
Apollo, Bacchus, and the Heavenly Nine. The 
God of Moses chose Mt. Sinai. His thunders, 
however, were in no way superior to those of 
Jupiter, and neither were his revelations. When 
'' Jove convened the Senate of the skies,'' it was 
for the purpose to prevent, and he issued his 
solemn commandment, that no God should show 
any partiality towards, or think of yielding any 
assistance to, either of the armies of men that 
were at war with each other, but leave them to 
fight it out among themselves. And, generally 
speaking, those heathen gods were above the 
meanness of ^;cj!7tia/i^2/ cmd jealousy, which were 
among the distinguishing traits of the God of 
Moses. Certainly, none of them was ever guilty 
of planning and instigating a scheme to " cut 
off and destroy" a whole nation of well-behaved 
people, to give their land and property to another 
people of any sort ; and they never acknowledged 
any '* peculiar people," to whom they showed all 
their favors, to the exclusion of all other peoples. 
The acknowledged heathen gods were quite as 
good as the God of Moses. They all had some 
regard for right and justice. 

The True God certainly has no such form or 
general characteristics as are attributed to this 



152 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

God of Moses. Nor could he possibly be guilty 
of any such base and detestable actions, or of any 
of the foul and atrocious crimes that have been 
perpetrated in the name of the God of Moses. 
But such was the God that Moses taught his peo- 
ple to believe in. He was just such a being as 
^vould answer his purpose, and that was all he 
cared for. Just such a being as a shrewd, cun- 
ning politician might use with an ignorant and 
superstitious people, to help carry out any scheme 
he might project, and Moses took full advantage 
of it. More than two thousand years after 
Moses, Mahomet used the same God in the same 
way that Moses did to carry out his schemes. 
And he performed his deceptions near the same 
place where Moses performed his. The Christians 
will fly up and say, " But Mahomet was a 
deceiver, an impostor." Indeed? How do we 
know that he was any more of a deceiver than 
Moses? We have the word of Mahomet for one, 
and we have only the w^ord of Moses, (if indeed 
we have as much as that,) for the other. If 
tested by the number of believers, the believers 
in Mahomet far outnumber the Christians. As 
Carlyle says, "For these twelve centuries it 
(Mahommedanism) has been the religion and 
life guidance of the fifth part of the whole kin- 
dred of mankind. Above all, it has been a religion 
heartily helievedy Joseph Smith used the same 
God in the same way, and he had his followers, " 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSES. 1 53 

Previous to their pretended interview with 
God, the general character of Mahomet as well as 
Smith was just as good as that of Moses, quite 
as credible and worthy of belief. From the time 
that Moses was taken out of the bulrushes to the 
time he pretended that God called him at the 
burning bush, which was about eighty years, all 
we know of him is that he murdered an Egyp- 
tian and fled to the wilderness to escape punish- 
ment for that crime. Neither Mahomet nor Smith 
ever personally committed any crime. 

Moses obtained employment to tend the flocks 
of Jethro, married his daughter, and lived with 
him about forty years before God noticed him. 
All this time he was simply a fugitive from just- 
ice. Under these circumstances, while he was 
attending to his business, he pretends that this 
God called to him from a bush that appeared to 
be on fire but was not consumed, and introduced 
himself as follows : "I am the God of thy father, 
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the 
God of Jacob. He did not claim to be the great 
Creator of the universe or the God of all man- 
kind generally, but only the God of those partic- 
ular persons and their posterity. 

It was the custom of that age for every people 
to have its own separate and peculiar God, and 
Moses prepared to follow the fashion. After thus 
introducing himself, Moses pretends that God said 



154 VINDICATION Olf THE TRUE GOD 

to him, " I have surely seen the affliction of my 
people which are in Egypt." "And I have come 
down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyp- 
tians, and to bring them up out of that land unto 
a good land and a large, unto a land flowing witli 
milk and honey, unto the place of the Canaanites, 
and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Periz- 
zites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites." Now 
this is what Moses pretends that God said to him 
at the first interview he ever had with him, when 
he introduced himself and called him at the burn- 
ins; bush. It was then and there that the sjrent 
scheme was first unfolded. It was a scheme to 
cut off and destroy all those peoples who inhab- 
ited the land of Canaan, to give place to the Israel- 
ites who were then in bondage in Egypt. This is 
implied in what is above quoted, but is made 
more clear and certain by a subsequent interview, 
at which Moses represents that God said to him 
'' I will send an angel before thee to keep thee in 
the way." "I will be an enemy unto thy enemies, 
and an adversary unto thine adversaries," " and 
bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, 
and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hi- 
vites, and the Jebusites, and I loill cut them off^ 
'^ I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy 
all the people to tohom thou shalt come.^'^ This is 
the scheme which Moses pretended that his God 
planned, devised, laid out, and ordered him to 



AGAINST the: GOD OF MOSKS. 1 55 

undertake and execute. And to encourage and 
strengthen him, said to him, " Certainly, I will be 
with thee." Then, if we believe Moses, this was 
all God's work, his plan, his scheme, his object, 
devised, first suggested, and directly ordered by 
him. This is the great, dominant and overruling 
pretence of Moses, and by which all his other pre- 
tences, which were all only in furtherance of the 
same object and end, must be judged of and de- 
termined. Is it true that the one only living and 
True God devised, first suggested, and ordered the 
execution of that scheme, and promised to per- 
sonally assist in carrying it out ? Is it true ? Was 
it God's own personal scheme, or was it only the 
scheme of Moses? On the answer to this ques- 
tion depends the all important question whether 
Moses was a true prophet, and representative of 
the True God, or whether he was an imposter. 

An effort to rescue a worthy people from bond- 
age, and place them where their condition might 
be improved, is certainly in and of itself worthy 
of all commendation. But to plot and plan and 
scheme by superior force to cut off, deslr( y and 
annihilate another distant and innocent people, 
who never gave any offense, and who had no 
hand in the enslavement, in order to give them a 
country exclusively to themselves, is a very dif- 
ferent thing. It is the plan of a human or in- 
human conqueror, who tramples heedlessly on the 



156 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

rights of others in total disregard of justice and 
all moral principle. 

It was no part of this scheme to take the Israel- 
ites to Canaan as an army of missionaries to re- 
form the people, to teach them the knowledge of 
God, persuade them to accept, serve and worship 
tliis God. Nothing of the kind. No other peo- 
ple were to be allowed in the circle. They would 
not intermarry or associate with any other people, 
or allow them to have any interest in or claim 
upon this God. He w^as their own God, the God 
of Israel and of the Israelites exclusively ; was 
not the God of any other people ; " was an ene- 
my of their enemies," and all other people must 
be cut off and destroyed, so that the Israelites 
might have the whole country to themselves ex- 
clusively. This was the scheme. 

There were to be no friendly negotiations to al- 
low the Israelites to settle there peaceably among 
them, as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had done, 
and allow them to adopt their own system of wor- 
ship. No, this would not answer. The only 
thing to be done was to cut off and destroy all 
the people to whom they would come — kill them 
— put them out of the way, and seize and appro- 
priate all their property. The justice and moral- 
ity of the scheme had no weight with Moses. 
Moses coveted the land of Canaan, and his tenth 
commandment was not allowed to interfere with 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSKS. 1 57 

ln*s plan. The people that lived in that land must 
all be cut off and destroyed. It was the scheme 
of a robber and murderer ; and, as it was after- 
ward carried out, was one of the blackest, most 
inhuman and atrocious crimes ever committed by 
man. 

Who were the people of Canaan, who were to 
be thus cut off and destroyed to give place to the 
Israelites ? What kind of people were they ? 
Three of these peoples, namely, the Canaanites, 
Perizyites and Hittites, were the immediate neigh- 
bors of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for over two 
hundred years, while they lived there, and these 
were probably a fair sample of all the rest of 
the dwellers in Canaan. Some few little inci- 
dents crop out in the record, from which we may 
judge of their character. Abraham, with 8arah, 
his half-sister, for a wife, came and settled among 
them about six hundred years before the time we 
are now speaking of, and when he came '' lie was 
rich in cattle, and in silver and gold." They did 
not attempt to rob him, or overreach, or take any 
advantage of him, but allowed him to settle 
among them, and always treated him with greiit 
respect and kindness. Those peoples inherited 
the land from their ancestors, who had owned 
and occupied it from time immemorial, and had 
a good right and perfect title to it. 

After Abraham had lived there some forty 



158 VINDICATION OF THK TRUE GOD 

years, more or less, his wife Sarah died, and he 
had no suitable place to bury her. He modestly 
made his want known to his neiglibors, the sons 
of Heth. The sons of Heth immediately rose up 
as one man, and said to him, " In the choice of 
our sepulchres bury thy dead. None of us shall 
withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou 
mayst bury thy dead." This was a kind and gen- 
erous offer. Abraham thanked them for their 
kindness, but desired to have a sepulchre of his 
own. He knew of a field which bad the cave of 
Machpelah in it, and it was owned by a man 
named EpJiron^ and he desired that they would 
treat with Ephron for that field for him. As soon 
as Ephron heard that Abraham wanted the field 
for a burial place, he immediately came forward, 
a noble soul, and said, " My lord, the field give I 
thee, and the cave that is therein, I give it thee. 
In the presence of the sons of my people, give I 
it thee. Bury thy dead." But as Abraham was 
rich, he did not wish to receive it as a gift. He 
chose to pay for it, and therefore desired Ephron 
to set a price upon it. In compliance with 
that request, the generous-hearted Ephron said, 
" My lord, hearken to me ; the land is \\ov\.\\ four 
hundred shekels of silver ; what is that betwixt me 
and thee ? Bury, therefore, thy dead ? " He 
did not try to drive a sharp bargain, did not want 
to take money for it ; but Abraham weighed out 



AGAINST TH^ GOD OF MOSKS. 1 59 

the silver, wliich Ephron reluctantly received, and 
[)assed the title. The same people were equally 
kind and friendly with Isaac and Jacob, and so 
they lived friendly neighbors for more than two 
hundred years. From these incidents \Ye may 
judge of the character of that people. They were 
a generous, noble-hearted, magnanimous people. 
And yet these are the people, specially named 
among others, whom Moses pretended that God 
ordered to be ''cut off and destroyed," and their 
land and property seized and appropriated by the 
descendants of the very man to whom all this 
kindness and generosity was shown. Is it true? 
Was this God's scheme, or the scheme of Moses? 
A scheme that was never excelled on earth for 
downright hellish atrocity. Did Moses tell the 
truth ? Was it God's scheme? Did God origin- 
ate, devise, and out of the flames of a burning 
bush order its execution ? Or was it the scheme 
of Moses, wholly devised by him, and by him 
falsely charged upon God ? We have nothing 
but the word of Moses for it. Is it possible to 
believe him ? Did he tell the truth ? 

The scheme was successful, and was carried out 
to the letter. All those innocent, unoffendinof, 
noble people were **cut off and destroyed," all 
their property taken by the Israelites ; and the 
decej)tive glamour of success gilded with the 
shining garbs of righteousness all the crimes and 



l6o VINDICATION OF THK TRUE GOD 

atrocities tliat were committed to accomplish it ; 
and it is claimed that they were noble, honorable, 
praiseworthy, glorious deeds, — the cause of hu- 
manity, the cause of righteousness, the cause of 
God. And ever since Moses has been lauded as 
the most worthy of all men, the greatest patriot, 
the greatest benefactor of the race, a model of 
excellency, the grand vicegerent and foremost 
prophet of God, and the prototype of Christ. 



CHAPTER XL 
The Motive of Moses. 

Assuming, for the sake of argument, that 
Moses in his stories referred to the True God, 
when we can readily see a motive for making a 
remarkable pretence of private, personal intimacy 
with God, and receiving special communications 
and directions from him, we have a right to use 
that motive and all attendant circumstances to 
test the credibility of the pretence. If we find 
the motive strong, and the pretence of something 
miraculous contrary to human experience, this 



AGAINST THK GOD OF MOSKS. l6l 

of itself is sufficient to justify a strong doubt of 
its truth. But, above all, if the pretence be in- 
consistent with and antagonistic to the character 
of God, we are forced to conclude that it is false, 
without reference to motive, for God must be true 
to himself though it prove every man to be a liar. 

We have no evidence at all but the bare word 
of Moses that God appeared and talked to him. 
While we may admit that it is not impossible for 
God to make a direct, personal, verbal communi- 
cation to a human being, nevertheless it would be 
so inconsistent with human experience, and so 
miraculous, that the testimony of one man would 
hardly be sufficient to entitle a single instance of 
it to belief. If he should do anything of the 
kind, it surely would be in regard to something of 
public interest and importance ; and it is incredi- 
ble that he would do it off in a remote by-place, 
privately and secretly to one person, and not gen- 
erally to all, or at least to many. 

We discredit the stories of Mahomet and Joseph 
Smith about communications claimed to have been 
made in this way, and where we do not find any 
very unworthy motive, — nothing more than a 
desire to have others believe as they did. Then 
why not discredit the story of Moses ? What 
better right have we to believe Moses than Ma- 
homet and Smith ? From what we know of the 
men, Moses was personally no better or more en- 



l62 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

titled to credit than either of the others. Neither 
of them ever personally committed a murder or 
other crime. And neither of them ever planned 
or instigated a scheme to cut off and destroy a 
whole nation of worthy people, or any people, to 
make room for their followers. On the contrary, 
they were always ready to receive all that were 
willing to join them. If God visited and talked 
with Moses, why may he not have done the same 
with Mahomet and Smith ? They were quite as 
respectable, and their motives were certainly full 
as good. 

It is particularly incredible that God should 
take such a special interest in the Israelites, and 
have more regard for them than he had for the 
Egyptians, or the Canaanites, or any other peo- 
ple. They certainly were no better, or more 
worthy. They were pagans, and quite as much 
so as any of the other people. But if he chose 
to do so, it is incredible that he should have gone 
to Moses alone in the wilderness, and, in a clan- 
destine way, ordered and directed him to take 
steps to ameliorate their condition in such a way 
as Moses pretended, when there was a much 
easier, more direct and certain way of accomplish- 
ing the object. Here is an instance where Moses 
did not credit his God with a high order of wis- 
dom and sagacity. The Israelites were then in 
a rich and delightful country. And if God, in- 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSES. 1 63 

stead of going to Moses oif in the wilderness, 
had appeared directly to Pharoah, made him 
conscious of his personal presence, and requested 
him to see that they were properly treated, it 
would, most certainly, have been attended to at 
once. Besides, Pharoah and all his subjects would 
have been exceedingly delighted with the oppor- 
tunity of thus being made personally acquainted 
with God. This is just what they and everybody 
else then were, and ever since have been, most 
intensely desirous of and anxious for. Everything 
earthly then (or now) would readily have been 
exchanged for it. There are many fanatics and 
enthusiasts now, who claim and pretend to have 
such a personal acquaintance ; but God knows 
they are all liars. 

It is obvious that the great, all-absorbing, and 
controlling motive and main object Moses had in 
view was not merely to rescue his race from 
bondage, — that was only an insignificant part of It, 
— but to conquer, subdue, ''cut off and destroy" 
all the people of Canaan, a large and delightful 
country, and give it to his people. He had set 
his heart upon that particular country. He 
would not be satisfied wuth obtaining control and 
governing it and the people that lived there. 
His scheme was to butcher, murder, cut off and 
destroy them all by an universal and indiscrim- 
inate slaughter, and give his people most exclu- 



164 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

sive possession of it. This was the scheme Moses 
devised and set his heart upon. This was his 
great controlling motive, and everything else was 
subordinate to it. And he used his absurd and 
childish ideas of Qod as among the most efficient 
means to accomphsh that purpose. 

To judge of the power and effect of this motive 
upon the mind of Moses, we must take into con- 
sideration the great magnitude of the main object 
he had in view, — that of acquiring the land of 
Canaan, — the age in which he lived, all his cir- 
cumstances and surroundings, his opinion and be- 
lief in regard to creation ; and more particularly 
his i leas and belief in regard to God, what kind 
of a being he supposed him to be, — the gross 
ignorance of his people, how easy it was to make 
such a people believe that God had appeared and 
talked to him ; also the prevailing opinions and 
beliefs of people generally at that time on those 
subjects. All these things have a direct bearing 
upon the point. 

It was customary in those days for rulers to 
use pretended directions and communications 
from their gods with their ignorant subjects, to 
excite enthusiasm, to promote their personal de- 
signs. Moses, undoubtedly, used his God in the 
same way. A very important piece of evidence 
to prove that his God^ was of the kind that might 
be so used, is the fact that he pretended that he 



AGAINST THK GOD OF MOSES. 165 

saw him, and described him as having a human 
form, with feet, liands, a face too glorious to be 
looked upon with mortal eyes, but with '* back 
parts " which he was permitted to see. Can any- 
body really believe this ? This obvious falsehood 
is alone sufficient to prove that Moses was an im- 
poster. Whether it relates to the True God or to 
an im;iginary being, it is equally false. It cer- 
tainly is false as to the True God, and cannot pos- 
sibly be true of an imaginary being. This proves 
that, when Moses told that story, he was lying, 
lying, lying. He deliberately told his people a 
falseiiood, for the purpose of inducing them to 
believe that he had personal intimacy with God. 
And it had that effect, as he knew it would with 
the ignorant people he was then dealing with; 
but it should have quite the opposite effect with 
people nowadays. It is just one of those things 
which often happens now, where a false witness, 
in his effort to insure a belief of his false story, 
unwittingly over acts, makes his story a little too 
strong, and says or does something which betrays 
its falsity. There was not much danger of this as 
between Moses and his ignorant people ; but with 
people of this age, who are not crazed or demented 
with superstition and ignorance, it must prove 
that he was deceiving his people ; that he told 
them a deliberate falsehood, and that he was an 
imposter. 



1 66 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

The falsity of his pretences is also betrayed by 
the fact that he did not dare or attempt to rely 
and act upon what he pretended God promised 
to do. He did not dare to attempt to lead his 
people directly to Canaan just as they were, and 
rely upon the promise of God to " cut off and 
destroy all the people to whom he would come.'' 
If it had been true as he pretended, that God had 
so promised, they would have no serious fighting 
to do themselves, and he might have led them 
direct the shortest route to Canaan, and had them 
all settle there in less time than it took to go to 
Sinai. But Moses was too wise and cunning to 
attempt such an experiment. This clearly shows 
that he was using an imaginary God. That all 
his pretences were false, and made for the effect 
they would have upon his people, to keep them 
under his control and keep them quiet, while he 
attended to the real business. They were a raw, 
unorganized rabble, and would have stood no 
chance against the Canaanites. They w^ould have 
been totally annihilated. Moses well knew that 
when they were lead to Canaan his God would 
expect to be on the strongest side, and that it 
would be folly to take them there until they were 
fully able to do the business without relying upon 
special assistance from God. The cunning Moses, 
like all such men, had ready a plausible excuse. 
If the mountain would not come to Mahomet, his 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSES. 167 

God would suddenly change liis mind, and order 
Mahomet to go to the mountain. The excuse 
Moses had was, tliat while they were all together, 
before they would be scattered all over the land 
of Canaan, he wanted to introduce and teach them 
his system of worship. So, instead of attempting 
to lead them directly to Canaan, like Mahomet, 
he went to the mountain ^ — Mt. Sinai. There he 
dallied with them for a long time, introduced his 
deceptive and ridiculous system of worship, and 
with it diverted tlieir minds, while he attended 
most assiduously to the main business, which was 
to organize, drill and train all able-bodied men 
into an army of soldiers. 

His system of worship, like his pretences, was 
all a deception and a fraud. It was the same kind 
of worship that had been used for centuries by 
other heathen nations towards their imaginary 
Gods, and it was adopted by Moses for the same 
purpose that other heathens used it, namely, as a 
means of supporting a priesthood. Moses w^ell 
knew that no real, intelligent God could be hon- 
ored or pleased by the killing and roasting of 
dumb animals. It is ridiculous to suppose that he 
could be. It is evident that it was adopted and 
used by him to deceive tlie common people, the 
producers, into the belief that it was a sacred 
duty, required by God, to contribute of their sub- 
stance for his service. And this answered a 



1 68 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

double purpose. First, the contributions supported 
the army of priests and levites, who thereby be- 
came personally Interested to support his system 
and all his pretences ; and secondly, it diverted 
the minds of the people, while Moses.himself was 
attendino; to the more serious business of formincp 
an army. 

The human traits and characteristics which 
Moses ascribes to his God, such as partiality, 
jealousy, vanity, deceit, injustice, cruelty, etc., 
prove that he had no adequate or proper concep- 
tion of the character of the True God, for it is 
impossible that the True God can have any such 
characteristics. 

The collateral stories that are told about the 
plagues, the dividing of the waters of the Red 
Sea and the Jordan, and causing the sun and 
moon to stand still for about a whole day to accom- 
modate Joshua, and all the other remarkable 
stories, so far from tending to corroborate and 
promote belief in the pretences of Moses, are so 
absurd and ridiculously false that they have the 
effect, like his pretence that he saw the person of 
God, only to cast a Munchausen hue over ths 
whole. If there had been any truth in those 
stories, some mention, or at least some hint, of 
them w^ould have appeared in the history or tra- 
ditions of Egypt and other countries. 

Morality, right and justice were not considered 



AGAINST THK GOD OF MOSKS. 1 69 

in forming his scheme. They had no weight with 
Moses. The doctrine tliat mioht makes rij^ht 
was adopted by him as it was by other j)eople in 
that age. In his pretences he took it for granted 
that his God agreed with him ; held the same 
views that he did. This fact detects, exposes, 
proves and establishes the falsity of his pretences 
beyond a doubt as to the True God. For the true 
God certainly did not, could not, agree with him. 
It is plain to see that the motive and object 
Moses had in view was sufficient — with such ab- 
surd and ridiculous ideas as he had of God, — to 
induce him to make any pretence that lie thought 
might liave a favorable impression on tlie minds 
of his people, and help him to carry out his scheme. 
Other conquerors have cruelly invaded and con- 
quered countries without riglit, and occasioned 
much bloodshed and suffering. They did it to 
acquire control and extend their government over 
the people. No human wretch but Moses, how- 
ever, ever planned to kill, cut off and destroy all 
the inhabitants of the country they proposed to 
conquer. Moses could not be satisfied with any- 
thing short of the entire extermination of all the 
inhabitants of Canaan. That was the scheme he 
set his heart upon, and the motive power of all 
his actions. But it was too horrible to be sug- 
gested even to his own people, on his own respon- 
sibility alone. They might see that it was un- 



170 VINDICATION OF TH^ TRUE GOD 

just, too cruel. Besides, they might think, How 
can we do it ? AVc are not strong: enough to sfo 
and kill all the inhabitants of Canaan. They 
would kill us. We had better stay where we are. 
Moses saw this, and so he determined to charge it 
upon God, pretend that God had appeared to 
him and ordered it to he dojie, and p)romised to 
assist ill doing it. To open even this story to 
them required great care and consideration. 

It would be necessary that they should be first 
impressed with the belief that God did at times 
'' come down," and visit and talk with mankind, 
and tell them what to do. So he shaped the old 
traditions to meet the case, had it instilled into 
their minds how he " came down,"(" came down " 
was an important idea,) and talked with Adam 
and with Noah. He fabricated all the traditions 
about the visits to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I 
say fabricated, for there is no proof of them ex- 
cept his word. Told them how God promised to 
give the whole land of Canaan to their seed. 
This was said to make them believe that they had 
a divine right to that country. Pretended that 
God told Abraham that they would be strangers 
in a strange land for four hundred years, (which 
was said to correspond with what had happened 
to them,) but that after that time they would 
come out " with much substance '* and possess 
the land. And this is the sum and substance of 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSKS. 171 

all the revelations made to those patriarchs, — 
that their seed should have all Canaan. What an 
important revelation ! These stories show and 
prove the scheming of a politician. 

It was great business for God to " come down " 
three several times, — first to Abraham, then to 
Isaac, and afterward to Jacob, — to reveal those 
particular things and nothing else, and then say 
nothing more about them to anybody for four 
hundred years, and until Moses came. It shows 
how important Moses thought it was that his peo- 
ple should be thoroughly impressed with the idea 
that they had a divine right to Canaan, and this 
is the reason why he invented and shaped the 
patriarchal traditions as we now find them, so as 
just to tally with his scheme. 

In this way he prepared the minds of his peo- 
ple to receive his great and leading and all-impor- 
tant pretence. But it was necessary that evoi 
that should be accompanied by something that 
was marvelous, striking and mysterious, to excite 
their superstitious notions, or they might not be- 
lieve him. So he invented the idea of havinjj 
God call to him from a bush that seemed to be 
blazing with fire while it w^as not consumed. No- 
body else saAv it. He was all alone, off in the 
wilderness. They had no proof of it but his 
word. But the story was so novel and wonder- 
ful it excited their curiosity, and was sufficiently 



172 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

marvelous to satisfy superstition, and so they lis- 
tened and believed. Then he unfolded what he 
pretended that God said to him, and particularly 
that God promised to be with him and help 
carry it out. Nothing more was necessary. This 
was sufficiently wonderful. It captivated their 
pagan hearts, and secured their confidence in 
Moses. *' Surely," (they thought,) " God must 
be with him," and they were ready to believe 
anything he might say. The scheme pleased 
them. It tallied with their desires, and as God 
was going to see them through they had nothing 
to fear. They were transported with delight, and 
longed for the time to come to start. They could 
almost taste the milk and honey of Canaan. It 
was not a great way off. They could reach it in 
a few days. And then what delight to be free, 
— the owners of the land ! — to sit under their own 
vine and fig tree, and enjoy the fruit at their leis- 
ure ! 

Little did they think of the sufferings and 
hardships they would have to undergo before 
they reached Canaan. Moses understood it all. 
He knew that it would require much time and 
labor to prepare them to go to Canaan with any 
hope of success ; that it would be necessary to 
make soldiers of them, and organize them into a 
powerful army. His pretences were for the peo- 
ple, and were designed to comfort and pacifj the 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSES. 173 

people bolster up their courage, and keep them 
quiet while he directed the necessary work. His 
actions plainly show that he was not relying up- 
on the assistance of God, but was intent to have 
the people think and feel so. He did not venture 
to lead them direct to Canaan, but took them to 
Sinai, and there diverted their minds with his 
ridiculous system of worship while he organized 
them into an army. 

This leads us to consider the most important 
of all questions touching the pretences of Moses, 
and that is, How do they stand as respects the 
True God, — as respects the question of right, 
justice, and morality involved in them? This is 
another and the most important instance where 
Moses has unwittingly furnished most incontesta- 
ble proof of their falsity. As we have seen, he 
had no just, proper, or reasonable Idea or con- 
ception of the True God, or any correct ideas of 
right and justice among men — not at all superior 
to other heathen. All his ideas, notions, opinions 
and belief in regard to these things were rude, 
childish, and heathenish. They were all shaped, 
colored and beclouded by the ignorance of the 
age in which he lived. He was a heathen, in a 
whole world of heathens. He supposed his own 
ideas of right and justice were correct, and he 
had no doubt but that God, as he imagined him 
to be, entertained the same views and ideas that 



174 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

he did, and he tlierefore assumed such to be 
the fact. He had no idea but that the God he 
had imagined considered it right and just to se- 
lect out and have a peculiar people, make them 
the special recipients of all his favors, to the ex- 
clusion of all the rest of mankind ; and that it 
would be right and just to cut off and destroy all 
the inhabitants of Canaan to make room for the 
Israelites. And he instilled those ideas into the 
minds of his people. Such were the prevailing 
opinions among men of that age. And Moses 
was in no way superior to them on moral or re- 
ligious questions. All took it for granted that 
might makes right, and had but little, if any, re- 
gard for the rights of others, or any moral prin- 
ciple. 

It was the common practice among all the 
other nations, on important occasions, through 
priests, oracles, soothsayers, etc., to have the will 
and wishes of their gods declared to the common 
people, to inspire their enthusiasm and devotion 
to a cause. But the rulers determined what their 
gods should be represented as saying. Moses 
undoubtedly had the same notions, and resorted 
to precisely the same means to accomplish his 
purposes. He thought it all right, that his god 
agreed with him, and therefore he did not hesi- 
tate to represent that God appeared to him at the 
burning bush, and suggested, ordered, directed, 



AGAINST THK GOD OF MOSKS. 1 75 

and promised to assist to carry out that atrocious 
scheme. But his io-norance of the character of 
the True God betrays the falsity of all his pre- 
tences. If there had been the semblance of any 
excuse for it, any show of right or justice, any 
reasonable provocation, we might think differ- 
ently of it. But there was none. The dwellers 
in Canaan treated their ancestors with crreat re- 
spect, kindness and friendship for more than two 
hundred years, and showed that they were a gen- 
erous and noble people. They were pagans, to 
be sure, but no more so than the Israelites ; and 
this scheme to cut off and destroy them was one 
of the basest, meanest, most ungrateful, detesta- 
ble and abominable that ever disgraced the hu- 
man race. So the ignorant, false and absurd 
ideas which Moses had of God, and of right and 
justice, and his own heart-cruelty,' which are em- 
bodied in his scheme, entrap him and betray all 
his pretences, prove that the scheme originated 
in his own mind, — the mind of a covetous, un- 
just, and bloodthirsty human monster, — and that 
all his pretences in regard to God were false : 
That he was an imposter, and the great father of 
all imposters. The True God could not possibly 
have had anything to do with it. 

But although Moses exceeded all others in un- 
grateful, unprovoked and inhuman cruelty, the 
ignorant ideas and opinions which prevailed 



176 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

among men in his age might, perhaps, furnish some 
little palliation for him personally, hut not for 
God. We must suppose and assume that Go<l 
knew just as much then as he does now, and that 
he had the same ideas and views of right, truth, 
and justice then as now. It is therefore impossible 
that he could have suggested, originated and 
promised to assist in carrying out any such unjust 
(ind cruel scheme. It is inconsistent, antagonis- 
tic, and repugnant to his nature and character. 
And this is the crucial test of all the pretences of 
Moses: when it is pretended that God is partial, 
or that he has originated, suggested, ordered, or 
promised to assist in carrying out any wrong, 
unjust and cruel scheme, we may know, with un- 
erring certainty, that it is false. He would not, 
could not do it. '' Let God be true and every 
man a liar." The whole question, therefore, re- 
solves itself to this: Is God ever and always true 
to his own character, true to himself? If he is, 
then the pretences of Moses w^ere false, for they 
are entirely inconsistent and antagonistic to each 
other. Then, which shall we believe, God or 
Moses ? Which kind of faith shall we have, faith 
in God or faith in Moses ? 

We have nothing but the word of Moses to 
prove anything which he pretends that God said 
to him. Does the mere word of Moses outweigh 
the character of God ? Is the testimony of Moses 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSKS. 1 77 

sufficient to convict God of the abominable crime 
of plotting and planning and employing him to 
assist to "cut off and destroy" all the noble in- 
1 abitants of Canaan and steal their property ? Is 
the testimony of Closes alone sufficient to prove 
that God was guilty as a "particeps criminis." 
and accessory, before the fact, of stealing the 
jewels of gold and silver and the wearing apparel 
of the Egyptians, and running away with them, 
or playing double with Pharaoh? Can tlie testi- 
mony of Moses alone thus prevail against the in- 
tegrity and outweigh the character of God ? 

I do not believe that God appeared and said 
any such thing to Moses, as Moses said he did, at 
a burning bush, because it involves and implies 
partiality, injustice and cruelty on the part of 
God, which are utterly inconsistent with and an- 
tagonistic to his character; and that fact, to my 
mind, stamps the whole story of Moses as a false- 
liood, and Moses himself as an imposter. To me, 
the character of God is much his/her evidence than 
the word of Moses. The trouble with religion 
and the religious world is, that it sets Moses above 
God. Moses is believed in preference to God. 
The character of God lias no weight, no standing, 
against the testimony of Moses. The word of 
Moses is the only evidence that is to be regarded. 
His word is conclusive, and to doubt Moses and 
his absurd pretences is a monstrous sin. Hence, 



1 78 VINDICATION OF THB TRUE GOD 

Moses must be allowed to charge God with par- 
tiality, jealousy, vanity, cruelty, double-dealing, 
petty larceny, and claim that he saw the '' back 
parts" of his person, and that august Being must 
sit still on his throne, listen to and allow his creat- 
ures to believe all those infamous blasphemies, 
without being allowed to interpose proof of good 
character, or saying a word in his own defense ; 
for Moses was boss, and wanted Canaan ; there- 
fore, God must not be allowed to say a word, ex- 
cept what Moses told him to say, or impiously pre- 
sumed to say for him, for fear it might upset the 
scheme. Such is the ridiculous absurdity and 
fanaticism of religion. What kind of a doctrine 
is this for intelligent beings to believe ? So, here, 
the question again recurs to us, as reasonable be- 
ings, which shall we believe, — God or Moses? 

Who are infidels ? The word infidel is used as 
a term of reproach by the followers of the two 
paramount impostors of the world, Moses and 
Mahomet, toward the followers of each other, 
and it is freely bandied between them. The 
Christian says, " You are an infidel," and the 
Mahommedan quickly retorts, " You are another." 
Both enjoy the luxury of having the same kind of 
mud thrown in their faces, and it is a pretty 
evenly drawn game betvveen them. The Mahom- 
medan has a little the advantage, in having by 
far the larj^jer number and the most devout and 



AGAINST the; GOD OF MOSKS. 1 79 

faithful believers; but the Christians counterbal- 
ance this somewhat by having on their side 
Moses, the great original father of all impostors. 
It seems to be agreed between them, that all who 
do not believe in either Moses or Mahomet are 
surely infidels. Faith in God counts for nothing, 
unless you take one of these impostors with you. 
You must take either Moses or Mahomet or, you 
are surely an infidel. And neither of these will 
shield you from the slang of the other. 80 all 
are sure of being accounted infidels by many, 
whatever they believe. But those who have 
faith in God alone as he has portrayed himself in 
his mighty works, and reject all impostors and 
false prophets, can well afford to bear the intended 
insult for a while. '' Let the heathen ra^e and 
the people imagine a vain," ridiculous and absurd 
thing. The truth will find its way at last, and 
the believers in the True God will eventually be 
fully vindicated. 

From what has been said, it is obvious that 
the desire of Moses to acquire Canaan for his 
people was the dominant and controlling motive 
of all his actions, and induced him to make such 
pretences in regard to God as he thought best 
calculated to stimulate and encourage the people, 
and at the same time inspire them with confidence 
in himself, and that there is no truth in them. 
His ignorant, false, absurd and heathenish belief 



l8o VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

made of his God, to his mind, just such a being 
as he might use for that purpose. His ideas of 
God were the same as surroundIni2c heathen nations 
had of tlieir gods. He was himself a pagan, and 
educated as such. Each chiimed their god to be 
the original god, and the greatest and best of all. 
Moses used his god in tlie same way, worshipped 
him in the same way, as other heathen people did 
theirs; made just the same kind of pretences of 
receiving direct communications from him as he 
pleased. And the nature and character of the 
communications he pretended to receive betray 
their falsity, and prove him to be an impostor. 
All his pretences emanated solely from his own 
brain, and could not possibly have had any divine 
origin. 

A god that would or could from all others se- 
lect out any one people, and such a people as the 
Israelites then were, to be the recipients of all his 
favors and regard, — even condescended to steal 
jewelry and wearing apparel for them, and order 
other people to be "cut off and destroyed," to 
give place to them, would not deserve or be en- 
titled to any reverence or respect from anybody. 
He could be regarded only as an arbitrary tyrant, 
who exercised his power without regard to right 
or justice. The world has no use for any such 
God. Human nature shudders to think of such a 
God. It would be impossible to respect and love 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSES. l8l 

such a God. All the instincts of our miture would 
compel us to despise and curse hira. It is pre- 
posterous to suppose that the True God can be 
any such kind of a being. Therefore, let him be 
vindicated from all such base aspersions and 
against all false Gods. 



CHAPTER XII. 
Eeltgiox and Worship. 

Now, I propose to inquire into the origin of 
religion and worship. Strictly speaking, religion 
has respect to nothing but worship of God. It 
has nothing to do with our conduct in regard to 
ourselves or our fellow men. That is a distinct 
and different field. That is confined to morals. 
It is true that the various systems of religion 
have ado[)ted certain moral precepts, mixed them 
in with, and claimed them as integral parts of 
religion ; that they were originated by religion, 
and that their existence depends upon and is sus- 
tained by religion alone. This is not the fact. 
They are only the sugar coating that makes re- 



l82 VINDICATION OF THE TRUK GOD 

liglon palatable. Morals originate anil spring 
from an innate sense of rio^lit and wroni?, which 
is implanted within us as a law of our nature. 
They are developed by reason, according to the 
exigencies of society, and are designed to pro- 
mote the well being and ha[)plness of each indi- 
vidual, and the general good of all in this life. 
Therefore they respect only our conduct in re- 
gard to ourselves and towards our fellow men. 
Whereas, religion respects only worship of God. 
As it can have no possible effect whatever with 
or upon that great being, or influence him either 
to do or not to do anything, it is neither required 
nor desired by him. Therefore he has not com- 
manded it, or revealed, or intimated anything in 
regard to it. It Is a creature merely of the im- 
agination, — nothing but mystic mythical myste- 
ries — with no actual knowledge to found it upon, 
or reason to sustain it — a mere superstition. When 
priestcraft tries to make anything else out of it, 
we ma,y know it is w^orking for its own selfish ends. 
Religious organizations were originally devised 
and formed, and are now maintained, for the sole 
purpose and object of giving place and support 
to priests and their assistants. That cunning class 
has always devoted their energies to perpetuate 
the craft, and make it appear that their office is 
necessary for the spiritual welfare of the people. 
To this end, and to maintain and foster this be- 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSKS. 1 83 

lief, they always exerted their ingenuity to involve 
and envelope tlie relations that exist between God 
and man in Mystic Mysteries, which they claimed 
to understand, but which nobody else was per- 
mitted to know. They claimed to be nearer to 
God, and to have direct, personal communion 
with him ; and to receive personal advice and di- 
rections from him; and that all the people had to 
do was to believe what the priests told them, have 
confidence in their priests, rely upon and obey 
them. 

In modern times all these Mystic Mysteries are 
supposed to be contained or concealed in certain 
old writings. Nobody knows when, where or by 
whom they were written. It is all guess work. 
One fact is settled. None of them were kept in 
the Ark, for when vSolomon placed the Ark in his 
Temple, there was nothing in it but the two tables 
of stone. [I Kings, viii : 9.] But they contain 
so much pretended knowledge about the creation 
of the world and of man — such remarkable stories 
about God '^cominij down" at different times, 
and talking and advising with man, and such con- 
fident assurances that he had so much more re- 
gard for the enslaved Israelites than he had for all 
the rest of mankind, that he "came down," and 
employed and directed Moses to take them out of 
Egypt, and lead them to Canaan; and [)romised 
te give them that country, and to "cut off and 



184 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

destroy " all other people that stood in the way, — 
all which seemed so merciful, just and reasonable, 
and so necessarily characteristic of a just, wise 
and true God, that religion pronounced and de- 
clared those old writings to be the veritable word 
of God, literally true in every particular ; but 
mystically allegorical, in some parts, so that they 
do not appear to say just what they mean, and 
are not to be understood as meaning just what they 
say, but require interpretation by persons whose 
lives are devoted to that business, and who con- 
sequently are divinely assisted "to read between 
the lines," and so enabled to formulate such door- 
mas and doctrines as it is necessary for the peo- 
ple to believe, however repugnant to reason. In 
this way, the craft is sustained, by making it nec- 
essary to support a priesthood. 

So the orthodox Mahometan claims to believe 
that the Koran existed from eternitv ; that God 
has always kept the original, bound in silk, and 
ornamented with gold and precious jewels, eter- 
nally, close by his throne; that Gabriel gave a 
true copy of it to Mahomet, and allowed him to 
see the original once a year. The Christians 
laugh and sneer at this ridiculous nonsense. But 
their doctrine of the divine insj)iration of the 
Bible is an exact parallel to it — a piece of the 
same web ; precisely the same kind of stuff. It 
is like the polemic contest between Gymnast and 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSES. 1 85 

Captain Tripet — both supremely ridieulous, but 
well designed to sustain the ci-.d't of priestly in- 
terpreters. 

In the exercise of their office, the first step 
taken by the priests, and as the foundation of the 
whole building, was to attribute to that ancient 
pagan, named Moses, divine wisdom, received 
directly from God, and a direct, constant per- 
sonal acquaintance and intimacy with and knowl- 
edge of him ; while all the writings themselves, 
and every act of his life that is recorded, clearly 
display all the ignorance of his age in regard to 
creation and the origin of man, and show that he 
was as grossly ignorant as other pagans of his 
time, and that he had nothing abo>'e the most 
ignorant, childish and infinitely inadequate idea 
and conception of a Suj)reme Being. AH his 
talk about God, and his descriptions of him, are 
purely pagan. He supposed and believed God 
to exist in the form, image, and likeness of man, 
— with face, hands, feet and " back parts," 
which he pretended he was permitted to see, and 
that he was possessed of all human frailties. 
This was the idea and conception Moses had of 
God. And when we consider his wicked, criid 
ambition (which is manifest) to conquer Canaan, 
to murder, cut off and destroy all the inhabitants 
of that country and steal their possessions, to as- 
sume or pretend that he, this pagan Moses, had 



1 86 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

any better, higher, truer, or different idea and 
conception or knowledge of God tlian other pa- 
gans, or that he had any personal intimacy and 
conversations with him, is an insult to common 
sense. And yet, such assumption and pretense 
are the foundation, and all the foundation^ there 
is for the Hebraic and the Christian religions. 

The True God is too far above us to be influ- 
enced, or in the least degree affected, by any 
service we can perform or any worship we can 
render. Our attempts at worship are as if a 
school of ants amono; our sandhills, should assem- 
ble on one of their little hillocks, and attem[)t to 
pass resolutions complimentary to Queen Vic- 
toria, — only there is infinitely greater and wider 
difference between us and God than there can be 
between those little insects and the good Queen. 
Hence it is wisely said, in one of the best of 
those old writings : 

'*If thou sinnest, what dos't thou against 
him? If thou be righteous, what giv'st thou 
him, or what receiveth he of thy hand ? Thy 
wickedness may hurt a man as thou art, and thy 
righteousness may profit the son of man." The 
necessary inference is, we cannot do anything 
that can at all affect God. We can neither do 
him good or harm, or increase or decrease his 
happiness or his glory. Hence, he neither re- 
quires or desires anything at our hands. As our 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSKS, 1 8; 

fellowmen may be benefited or injured by our con- 
duct, the instinctive moral principles implanted in 
our nature clearly point out the proper field for 
all human exertion. 

In remote antiquity, as our race evolved into 
manhood, the various phenomena of nature, the 
actions of tlie elements, — the wind, hurricane, 
storms, rain, hail, lightning, thunder, particularly 
the innocent thunder, because it made such a 
noise, earthquakes, volcanoes, spouting fire, 
famines, failure of crops, plagues, pestilence, 
disease and death, which they could not under- 
stand or account for, — appalled and terrified those 
early ancestors, and induced in their childisli 
minds, first the emotion of fear, and then the 
belief that there must be some o;reat unseen beinoj 
or beings behind those manifestations that caused 
and controlled them. Sometimes they assigned 
a different spirit to each one. Bye and bye they 
began to think that perhaps some of those things 
might be sent as a punishment for something they 
might have done that displeased those unseen 
beings. Then, as children to parents, they natu- 
rally began to pray and supplicate forgiveness. 
Their prayers were, of course, thrown wildly into 
the air, addressed to beings that had no existence, 
except in 'their childish imaginations. After- 
wards, they resorted to kneeling and abject pros- 
trations which pleased earthly rulers, and, as they 



1 88 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

reasoned, could not fail to please those unseen 
beings. After a while, numbers combined in 
these rude acts of devotion gave names and at- 
tributed characteristics to these imaginary spirits. 

In process of time, some of the more cunning 
perceived that there was a chance to make an 
easy livelihood by leading in and conducting these 
devotional exercises for the people, and in their 
place. Then, priests, sorcerers, soothsayers, 
witches, seers, and prophets began to appear. 
They imposed upon the people by pretending to 
have direct intercourse and communications with 
those imaginary beings, and to know just what 
would please and displease them : and forms and 
schemes were then cunningly contrived by them to 
excite awe and reverence in the artless minds of 
the people. The priests, soothsayers and proph- 
ets loere facts, but the gods were only wiagin- 
ary. This is undoubtedly the origin of religion 
and religious worship. And from these rude 
originals have at length evolved all the systems 
and forms of the present day. The people have 
from time to time imagined gods of their own, or 
adopted such as others imagined, and shaped their 
forms of worship to suit their own fancy. 

In early times the gods were numerous ; all 
created by the imagination, just as tlie God of 
Moses was created. The priests, prophets, 
witches, soothsayers and sorcerers multiplied and, 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSKS. 1 89 

imposed their false pretences on tlie ignorant 
minds of the people, wlio had been awed into ab- 
ject submission to them. They pretended to 
know all about their gods — to have personal in- 
tercourse with them ; to receive messages and 
directions from them, and exerted their ingenuity 
to personize them and define their attributes. At 
length, to provide for their own support, they 
organized systems of sacrifices, by which the peo- 
ple, taught to believe it necessary to do something 
to appease or propitiate their imaginary gods, 
were induced to contribute the very best products 
of their labor — corn, oil, and wine, and the best 
of their flocks, beef and mutton, without spot or 
blemish — all theoretically to be sacrificed and 
destroyed to please their gods, but in fact and 
practice to support their priests. The same plan 
was adopted by Moses, and seems to have been 
about the same in all other heathen communities. 
It is well worthy of its heathen origin. For how 
it could be supposed that uny intelligent, really 
existing being could be pleased with such service 
is beyond the power of imagination to conceive, 
notwithstanding it Is said, " The Lord sraelled the 
sweet savor " of the meat that Noah cooked for 
his entertainment. 

At the present day this great multiplicity of 
gods has been reduced to one, and Jews, Chris- 
tians and Mahometans have all adopted the one 



igO VINDICATION OF THK TRUE GOD 

which Moses and his ancestors imagined, created 
and worshipped, in precisely the same way that 
all the other imaginary gods were created and 
worshipped. He is the same partial, jealous, vain, 
cruel God, having a human form, whose '' back 
parts " Moses says he was permitted to see, but 
who in fact had no more real existence tlian any 
of the other imaginary gods. They have dropped 
the ridiculous system of sacrifices, and his wor- 
ship now consists of fasting, prayer, thanksgiv- 
ing and praise, addressed to the same being. 
Throuo;h all their creed there runs a distinct vein 
of belief that this God is a most terrible being; 
that he sits high up in the heavens, watching 
every word that is spoken, every thought and 
every action, ready to pounce dow^n and devour 
us for the slightest fault, or keeping the score till 
a day of judgment, and then dooming us to ever- 
lasting torment. That for this reason we must 
live in constant fear, and that our tremblings 
must never cease. We need not be alarmed, how- 
ever, for that is only an imaginary god ; the True 
God is no such being. Of all beings in the uni- 
verse, he is the last to be afraid of. 

The God of Moses seems to have been well 
adapted for the use of scheming and designing 
men. After he was imagined and personized, 
Moses first introduced him to the world, and used 
him to carry out his cruel and bloody scheme. 



AGAINST^ THE GOD OF MOSES. 1 9: 

Then he passed him to Joshua, who used him to 
instigate and sanction his atrocious crimes. From 
that the propliets took him, and pretended to 
have private interviews witli him, and it is claimed 
that he inspired many of their mystic songs. 
Afterwards Mahomet used him for his purposes. 
And who can count the number of liuman beings 
that were slain, or estimate the suffering that was 
caused by the fanatics in that cause, claiming to" 
act just as Moses and Joshua did, under the direct 
orders and ~^ commandment of the same God. 
Joseph Smith also took him, but he used him 
more innocently than any of tlie others, for under 
Smith he did not inspire any war or slaughter. 

The Christians took him, and the holy Catholic 
Church, having full power and control over mind 
and conscience in applying its princi[)les and dog- 
mas, enveloped the civilized world in darkness and 
gloom for many centuries. When its head -was 
crushed, as in the case of the fabled Hydra, an 
increased number of the same kind of heads ap- 
peared in its place, and from each of these others 
grew out, each one hissing some new dogma. 

All sects and denominations have adopted the 
same God, and used him to promote and support 
some special object or design. Each has made a 
little different kind of an instrument, and now 
compels this God to play such tune as suits it- 
self- Of course, all claim that he is the True God, 



192 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

and pretend to know him personally ; know all 
about lilm ; just exactly what he thinks about ev- 
erything, and what pleases and displeases him. 
They assume that he needs and requires their aid 
and assistance; that they are employed by him, 
and are working for him, and tliat their co-opera- 
tion is necessary to enable him to carry on and 
sustain his government, and to advance his glory. 
And all this is true enough of the God they have 
adopted. He could not get on without them. But 
it is not true of the True God. lie requires none 
of their services. 

But these absurd delusions, mistaken, supersti- 
tious notions and ideas of God, constitutino: what 
is called Religion, first formed by and proceeding 
from an ignorant and childish age, inspired and 
promoted by priestcraft, and imposed upon ignor- 
ant people, from generation to generation, by false 
pretences, have gained mastery and control in the 
world, and they now override and sway the in- 
tellect, and influence the actions of a large part of 
the most intelligent portions of the human family. 
These false teachings, in times but recently passed, 
have had their natural and legitimate effect. They 
have caused more trouble, more crime, more suf- 
fering, more heart-rending cruelty and bloodshed, 
than all other causes combined. Cruel persecu- 
tions, the inquisition, the dungeon, the gibbet, the 
rack, and the faggot, were its adopted children. 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSES. 1 93 

Inflamed passions, blind prejudice and fanaticism^ 
ignorant and groundless assumptions, false pre- 
tences, arrogance, hatred, malice, and all uncliarl- 
tableness, followed in Its train. These are the 
fruits of a superstition that has long sailed, and 
still sails, under the name of Religion; and the 
world would be a great deal better off if it had 
never been heard of. It all originated from a 
childish imagination in remote and grossly ignor- 
ant times, and has since been fostered and pro- 
moted by the false pretences of false prophets, 
and by priestcraft. All kinds had the same kind 
of origin, and have been promoted in the same 
way. They are not sustained b}^ any real knowl- 
edge, and have no solid foundation in reason. 
Now in Christian countries It Is all founded upon 
the pretences of one man, educated as a heathen 
priest, a heathen among heathen, who described 
God as having a human form, and said that he saw 
his " back parts," which assertion alone Is suffi- 
cient to prove that he was imposing upon his peo- 
ple, and that he was an Impostor. 

As long as it is believed and taught that God 
visited Moses and talked with him, so long Ma- 
homets and Smiths and other Impostors will at- 
tempt to deceive and delude the world with false 
pretences. And so long as it is believed and 
taught that Jesus rose from the dead, and that he 
will again appear on earth, so long we will from 



194 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

time to time hear of his arrival in the person of 
some religious faiatic; and so long false prophets 
will appear to frighten the ignorant by fixing the 
(lay that the world will come to an end. Such 
doctrines are the hotbeds of false Christs, false 
prophets, and every species of fanaticism. 

A belief without any knowledge, proof or rea- 
son in the existence of invisible beings, whether 
one or more, that exercise power and influence 
over human beings and interfere in human affairs, 
is the common origin of sorcery, witchcraft, relig- 
ion and all religious dogmas, tenets and pretences. 
They all had the same origin, and have the same 
general characteristics, and one is just as well 
founded in reason and is just as true as another. 
This belief is a kind of mental disease. It comes, 
prevails, and attacks all sorts and conditions of 
men, indiscriminately, like a fatal pestilence, and 
has done so in all ages. Intellect, intelligence 
and reason are no preventives or protection. The 
great, the wise, and the good are just as liable to 
its attacks as the ig^norant and vulsjar. All are 
carried away with it. 

The stories of the magicians and sorcerers of 
Egypt, related by Moses as no new thing in his 
time, and the witch of Endor, argue great antiquity 
for that species of development. So called proph- 
ets were plenty in the days of Saul, and he was 
counted as one himself, and yet he believed that 



AGAINST THK GOD OF MOSES. 1 95 

the witch of Endor cciild obtain more reliable in- 
formation for him than the prophets could, or he 
would not have gone to her ; and, if the story is 
true, she could. The magicians and sorcerers of 
Egypt called by Pharoah were able to compete 
in many things with the sorceries of Moses, 
although (if he is to be believed) in the end he 
proved to be the most skillful. All this class of 
pretenders was patronized by royalty, which 
[)roves that they had for a long time been believed 
in by the people. Of course, their pranks were 
all delusions, devised and contrived by cunning 
and desi2:nino; men and women to take advantasfe 
of and use the current belief of the people for 
their own profit. In doing so it was necessary 
to pretend that they knew and were on most inti- 
mate and familiar terms of friendship with the 
spirits they represented. 

The only difference between them and the 
prophets is, the prophets assumed the distinctive 
name o^ i^rophets, and in their divinations used 
only the God which Moses imagined and imposed 
on his people, the '' back j^arts " of which he said 
he saw. But they used the same kind of decep- 
tion in pretending that they were on terms of fa- 
miliar intimacy with him, and were honored with 
visits and direct communications from him. It is 
evident that the spirits used by the witches and 
sorcerers, and their divinations, were as firmly 



196 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

believed in by the people at that time as those of 
the prophets, and they were undoubtedly just as 
true. Kings, nobles, and mighty rulers believed 
them as heartily as the pretences of Moses have 
since been believed. They all rest on the same 
foundation, and are on the same level. The only 
reason why the prophets inspired such severe 
laws against witches was, because the}^ were jeal- 
ous, as their God was, of all other gods. 

Prophets, sorcerers and witches have all exert- 
ed their skill and cunning by their divinations, — 
some to make money, and others to promote some 
other objects, and they have had the address to 
deceive and delude multitudes of worthy people 
in all ao;es. Thev have enticed into their net not 
only the low, ignorant and vulgar, but millions of 
the highest, noblest, wisest and best of mankind. 
And it is all founded primarily on a belief that 
some invisible being or beings exist, that exercise 
control and interfere in human affairs. But there 
is not the slightest evidence in the world tliat such 
is the fact. 

All the sacrifices and prayers of the Hebrews 
did not secure their occupancy of the land which, 
it was said, God sware unto them for " an ever- 
lasting possession,'' or save Jerusalem. Nor can 
it be shown that any or all the prayers of the 
hundreds of millions of Christians that have been 
poured out for almost nineteen centuries, any 



AGAlNvST THE) GOD OI^ MOSES. 1 97 

more than all the prayers of the ignorant heathen 
since the first man appeared on the earth, have 
ever had the slightest influence or effect upon any 
invisible being. The prayers and worship of Hot- 
tentots and all pagan idolators have been as much 
and as really noticed, recognized and answered 
as those of Hebrews, Christians, or Mohamme- 
dans. They have all feigned to believe that they 
were heard and answered, and that their various 
modes of worship were pleasing to the being or 
beings addressed. But in no single instance can 
it be fairly proved that any invisible being has 
ever answered or noticed any prayer, or mani- 
fested any sign of being either pleased or dis- 
pleased with any form or mode of worship. No 
partiality has ever been sliown or indicated. All 
have been treated alike, — the Hottentot equally 
as well as the Christian, — and that is, with abso- 
lute silence and inattention. This ouofht to be 
considered as conclusive evidence that prayer 
and worship are vain and useless. There is nothing 
in them. There is no foundation or reason for 
them, except to support priesthoods. Tliey arc 
a mere relic of the superstitions of a very re- 
mote, ignorant, and childish age, and as now 
})racticed are simply a liiige johe. As soon as it 
was known that the Czar of Russia was sick, all 
Europe fell on its knees and prayed for his recov- 
ery ; but to what purpose ? God's work went 
on just the same, utterly regardless of them. 



198 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

As God has thus shown tliat the time and 
energy that are spent in i)rayer and acts of de- 
votion to him personally are all thrown away, 
wholly disregarded by him, and at the same time 
has opened plainly to our view a broad field where 
they may be employed with great and beneficial 
results, it is clear that his design was that they 
should be so exclusively employed, and that is to 
promote the welfare, comfort and happiness of 
our fellow men in this life, leaving the future 
entirely to him who alone knows anything about 
it. 

As the first step toward such a result, we should 
discard and abandon all ideas of the manhood of 
God, which is the height and depth of ridiculous 
absurdity, and has done more than anything else 
to enthral the human mind with mystic darkness; 
for God is no such kind of a being as Moses and 
his followers have supposed him to be. He is not 
in the image and likeness of man, and has none of 
man's frailties. Then let the churches that are 
now devoted to siuseless service be converted into 
temples of learning, where the ''toiling millions" 
may learn something that is useful or pleasing to 
know ; and let all priests and ministers devote 
themselves to this business, instead of harping 
upon Mjthical Mysteries, wdiich are of no conse- 
quence to mankind. Let holidays, as often as 
one in seven, be established, and strictly guarded 
by law against unnecessary labor. 



AGAINST THK GOD OF MOSES. 1 99 

There is a disposition and a great effort on the 
part of Religionists to have the present Christian 
Sunday kept and observed in the same strict and 
lugubrious manner that the old Pharisees were 
supposed to regard their Sabbath, — as a day for 
the keeping of which man was created. Against 
such views and practice, the good Jesus uttered 
one of his most pointed and earnest reproofs, when 
he said : " The Sabbath was made for man, and 
not man for the Sabbath." It is quite easy to 
understand what this means. The present Sunday 
is not the Mosaic Sabbath, nor was it ever de- 
signed, authorized or intended to be substituted 
in the place of it. It is the first day of the week, 
not the seventh, — a different day altogether. The 
disciples, after the crucifixion, without any spe- 
cial design, held meetings on the first day of the 
week, as they had previously been accustomed to 
do ; and it gradually ripened into a custom. They 
afterwards preferred a week day instead of the 
seventh for their meeting, to show their contempt 
or disregard for the Jewish Sabbath, which they 
claimed to have passed away with all other cere- 
monials. It was not selected because it was sup- 
posed the resurrection occurred on that day — that 
was a mere coincidence and they never attached 
any particular sanctity to the day. The early 
Church continued the custom of holding meetings 
on that day. They had some religious exercises 



200 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

in the morning, but kept the rest of the day as 
what is now generally understood to mean a holi- 
day, a day for feasting, social visiting and amuse- 
ment. And we will search the New Testament 
in vain for any authority or sanction for regard- 
ing that day or any one day, even the seventh, as 
more holy and sacred than any other day. The 
fact is, the New Testament entirely ignores any- 
thing like a Sabbath, or any particularly sacred 
day. On this subject St. Paul, who ought to be 
regarded as pretty good authority, says, " One 
man esteemeih one day above another, another 
esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be 
fully persuaded in his own mind." And so he 
leaves it for every one to do as he pleases, without 
ever indicating the least preference for either side 
of the question. And this is all that is said in 
the New Testament on the subject. After cen- 
turies, some innovators advanced the idea that 
Sunday was the Lord's day, because it waa sup- 
posed the resurrection occurriMl on that day. 
Upon this, superstition clothed it with special 
sanctity; but there is no nutliority for it, even in 
the Uible, and no reason for it anywhere. 

But it is of great importance to have holidays, 
the more the better. But to be of any benefit, 
they should be observed in some Rational and 
beneficial way. They should be devoted to intel- 
lectual entertainments, mingled with amusements, 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSKS. 20I 

diversions, visiting, social gatherings, and what- 
ever may tend to rest the brain, ligliten the heart, 
and promote good fellowship, good feeling and 
brotherly kindness among men. Also let societies 
and combinations be formed, to devise schemes of 
employment for such as need it, and at fair wages; 
and to carefully watch over all that are employed, 
to see that they are fairly treated. Search out 
and correct all wrongs, public and private. Par- 
ticularly guard against monopolies, which tend 
and lead most inevitably to serfdom. In fine, do 
all that can be done by patient, self-denying, 
earnest, vigorous effort and exertion to elevate, 
even up, equalize, and improve the conditions of 
men, and so promote the well-being, comfort and 
happiness of all in this life, and that is the whole 
duty of man. 

It is a common saying, that it is our duty to 
love God. I scorn the use of the word ditty, in 
connection with the subject. Duty implies service 
performed as an act of servile obedience to some 
law or commandment prescribed by another person, 
power or being, whether one feels heartily in- 
clined to do it or not. Love, like fear, hate, rev- 
erence, etc., is a purely mental emotion, which 
cannot be generated, produced or controlled by 
any external law or commandment. Love, as an 
act of obedience to a commandment, is not love at 
all. It is destitute of the life and soul of love, 



202 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

and of everything that can render it of any value. 
Love that one human being entertains for another 
cannot be awakened by the commandment of its 
object, but only by the worthiness or supposed 
worthiness of the object. Love of God differs 
from that which exists between human beings, 
but is based on the same principle, and is gener- 
ated and called into action in the same way. It 
is a spontaneous, involuntary, mental emotion of 
admiration and reverence, caused and excited to 
action by his excellent greatness and his ineffa- 
ble perfections. When Solon made laws, he pre- 
scribed no punishment for parricide, because he 
thought it impossible that any human being 
could be guilty of such a crime. God has enacted 
no law or made any commandment requiring us 
to love him, thus showing that he considered it 
wholly unnecessary ; and that besides this such 
commandment would destroy the very essence of 
love. He wisely trusted that the great worthiness 
of his character alone was sufficient to secure and 
insure it. And this confidence was not misplaced. 
For who can look at the starry heavens at night, 
or, by the light of that glorious luminary that 
makes the day, survey the varied works and 
wonders of creation, or turn his attention to the 
structure of his own body, and the intellect that 
inhabits and animates it, without experiencing 
irresistible emotions of admiration and reverence 



AGAINST THE GOD OF MOSKS. 203 

for the great author of all these things ? It is 
impossible for human beings not to love God. 
And further, it is impossible for human beings not 
to admire and love the good Jesus, divested of 
all claim to divinity and the working of miracles, 
which superstition falsely attributes to him, for 
his real true character shines clearly through all 
that frivolous fustian a bright, pure, heart-glad- 
dening beacon light to the whole human familj^ 
"Enemies of God " is a cant phrase of religion- 
ists, and they are profuse with their charges that 
people hate God. This all proceeds from an im- 
agination diseased by superstition. It is not true. 
God has no enemies, nor does any human being 
with ordinary mental capacity hate him. Those 
that make such charges identify God with their 
own silly and absurd theories and dogmas. With 
them, those who do not believe in the divine in- 
spiration and the absolute literal inerrency of the 
Bible, as now compiled, hate God. Those who 
do not believe in Moses and the prophets hate 
God. Those who do not believe in the Immacu- 
late Conception and the Resurrection of Jesus 
hate God. Those who do not believe that Jesus 
is God, which he himself did not pretend to be, 
hate him. Those \vho do not believe that he is 
" a prayer-hearing and prayer-answering God," 
although he never answered one, hate him. Those 
who do not believe that there is a great personal 



204 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

Devil, a terrible Hell, and that God foreordained 
and foredoomed a large portion of the human 
family, thousands of years before they were born, 
to everlasting torment, hate him. This is all idola- 
try of absurd dogmas ; mere fetichism. Ministers 
may preach it, and imagine they are making a 
profound impression, and religious enthusiasts or 
monomaniacs may rejoi e in the belief of it, but 
tlie peojile do not believe. Science, reason, com- 
mon sense rebel against it. They illuminate tlie 
mind, and that opens the eyes of the people to the 
ridiculous absurdity of all such teachings. There 
is nothing in them that tends to the betterment 
of or any good to society, and they are now pass- 
ing and must all pass away, — be laid aside and 
forgotten as effete delusions. 

It is claimed that the world is indebted to the 
revelations which Moses pretended to receive on 
Mt. Sinai, and the Christian religion, for all the 
sound moral teachings and principles that exist 
in the world, and for all the progress that has 
been made in the condition of society during the 
last few centuries. Nothing could be further 
from the fact. The absurd superstitions that 
were from the beginning interwoven with and 
adopted as an integral part of the Christian Relig- 
ion were the prime cause of all the darkness and 
most of the crimes and suffering of the dark ages. 
They suppressed mental development, promoted 



AGAINST THK GOD O^ MOSES. 205 

Ignorance, and were the supreme barrier and 
obstacle to all improvement. Religion always has 
been and still is a heavy clog upon advancement. 
Whatever is inconsistent with the absurd and 
ridiculous theories and stories of Moses has al- 
ways been denounced and resisted with all the 
fulminations and powers of all the churches. Only 
about three hundred years ago it was rank heresy 
to believe that the earth moved, and religion is 
still shaldng and quaking over the developments 
of science. For science has discovered the most 
probable existence of many millions of other 
worlds of quite as much importance as this ; that 
this world has existed many millions of years ; 
and that man has lived upon it at least two hun- 
dred and fifty thousand years^ and probably a 
great deal longer instead of six thousand; and 
moreover, that he was not created in precisely 
the same way that Moses speaks of, but that he 
has evolved from a most infinitesimal beginning, 
requiring millions of years to accomplish. These 
theories, so consonant with reason and probabil- 
ity, shatter the stories in Genesis into such flitters 
that no mystic allegory can reconcile them. They 
would all be suppressed if religion had the power 
it once had. But it has not. It has lost its power to 
enthrall and fetter mind, which alone makes pro- 
gress possible and irresistible. All progress and 
improvement have resulted from and been caused 



206 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

and promoted by rebellion against Religion, and 
reason has come out uppermost in the struggle. 
Mind is free, and Religion is obliged to submit. 
The only consolation it has left as a last resort, 
and to bolster up its courage and sustain a priest- 
hood, is to hunt for allegories. 

In regard to morals, it is a well known histor- 
ical fact that there was nothing of any value in 
the revelations Moses pretended to receive on Mt. 
Sinai that was then new to the world. And after 
his time, and long before Christianity was thought 
of, and without any knowledge of Moses, what is 
to be said of such pagans as Lycurgus, Solon, 
Socrates, Plato, Pythagoras, that " heathen Chi- 
nee " Confucius, Cicero, Seneca, and hundreds of 
others, all heathen as they were, who taught and 
practiced, and by their lives elucidated, all the 
great moral principles ? And how do they com- 
pare on that subject with the strictest Hebrews, 
or the loud-boasting Christians ? 

But although Christians theoretically adopt and 
approve of the prevailing system of morals, they 
have never been remarkably distinguished for the 
practice of them. Christianity has never consid- 
ered the keeping and observance of the moral 
laws as of vital importance. Violations of them 
are mere peccadillos, easily remedied by a little 
repentance, fasting, living a few days on bread 
and water, or abstaining from a meat diet ; or, 



AGAINST THE GOD OK MOSES. 207 

what is still more effective, paying a little money 
to the Church. They do not affect Keligion. 
The chief, principal, paramount object and prov- 
ince of Religion is, and always has been, to in- 
culcate, promote, produce and secure a blind, 
superstitious belief of, and a kind of fetich rev- 
erence for, certain Mystic, Mythical, Mysterious 
dogmas and doctrines, that cannot be proved 
or understood, combined witli some abject devo- 
tional exercises. This belief, which cannot be dig- 
nified into a virtue, is the sbict qua no?i, the one 
and only thing needful for Religion. This marks 
the distinction and difference between morals and 
Religion. Morals are founded in and supported 
by reason, and are of the chiefest and utmost 
importance, for the well being of society, but are 
considered by religionists of secondary and trifling 
importance compared with this religious belief. 
An upright, moral life, the highest development 
of all the moral virtues, without this fetich be- 
lief, is of no weight or consequence in the eye of 
Religion. It will not save. " There is no relish 
of salvation in it," no saving grace connected 
with it. 

The requirements of Religion have varied 
from time to time in different ages, and been 
formed and transformed into different sliapes by 
different people. In whatever form it exists, it 
is only a relic or remodehng of the superstitions 



208 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

of remote antiquity. Among Christians, Relig- 
ion now consists principally of a belief lliat God 
interferes in human affairs, that the Bible is the 
inspired word of God, and is literally true in all its 
parts, as now compiled ; a belief in Moses and the 
prophets, the Immaculate Conception, the Res- 
urrection of Jesus from the dead, that Jesus is 
God, a personal devil, and the everlasting tor- 
ment of unbelievers in a terrible hell. Of what 
benefit is a belief in such stuif to mankind ? But 
a belief of these dogmas, which nobody knows, or 
can possibly know anything about, but most of 
which are absolutely absurd and ridiculous, alone 
constitutes the soul and body, substance and mar- 
row, of the Christian Religion. It never origi- 
nated, elicited, or enforced any great moral prin- 
ciple of action as between man and man. On 
the contrary, it tends to produce laxity in morals, 
for the reason that that Heligious belief is re- 
garded of so much more consequence, and as the 
only thing that is of vital importance and neces- 
sary to salvation, while all merely moral derelic- 
tions are easily smoothed over with some trifling 
penance. 

This matter has been thoroughly investigated 
and tested (and by religious people, too,) in a large 
community consisting of many that professed re- 
ligion, and many who had no religion, including 
so-called infidels of all grades ; and it was found, 



AGAINST THK GOD OF MOSKS. 209 

to their chagrin, that taking an equal number 
indiscriminately as they happened to come from 
each class, for general character and standing in 
community, for benevolence, charity, good deeds, 
good deportment, honorable dealing, and all ihe 
peculiar qualities that make a good and worthy 
citizen, those that had no Religion were far the 
superior. Such is the natural and necessary con- 
sequence of elevating such a superstitious and 
ridiculous belief into a position of such supreme 
and vital importance, while morals, everything 
that pertains to the welfare of man in his present 
state, are degraded into matters of comparative- 
ly trifling importance, violations of which are 
only venial faults, mere peccadillos, that may be 
easily atoned and expiated. Under the influence 
of such teachings the true believer may, as has 
heretofore been abundantly proved, contemplate 
and deliberately commit any crime, however hor- 
rible and revolting, with the perfect confidence 
and assurance that, with a little subsequent re- 
pentance, the hlood of Jesus will eradicate and 
obliterate all the stain. Believe, believe, only be- 
lieve and ye shall be saved, whatever else ye may 
do. That is Chriistianity . Mankind has no need 
or any use for anything of the kind. 

It is high time, therefore, that the True God 
should be vindicated against this God of Moses 
and all other imaginary and false gods created 



2IO VINDICATION OF THE TRUK GOD 

and set up by designing men to deceive the world. 
Saturn, Jupiter, Oairis, and thousands of others 
once firmly believed in by just as good and wise 
men as now live, have long since been buried in 
mythological story. The God of Moses is of the 
same kind, was created in the same way, no better 
than the others, belongs with them and must go 
with them. And all the absurd dogmas, doctrines 
and systems that have been founded and built 
upon a belief in him must also pass away, — be 
cast aside and mingled with the rubbish of antique 
delusions. And they are fast going. Science, 
reason, intelligence and common sense have all 
conspired and risen in rebellion against them, and 
they must go. For a little while longer Chris- 
tians may be deluded with the Idea of a " second 
coming " that will never be realized. The earliest 
believers felt sure that there were then living 
many who would live to see "Jesus coming inthe 
clouds of heaven with power and great glory." 
Nearly nineteen hundred years have since rolled 
by, and as yet there are no signs of such an event. 
Such delusions may last for a while longer, for 
of all enemies to the progress of our race super- 
stition Is the worst and hardest to fight, and the 
last to yield. 

But all the elements of the nature which God 
has implanted in us, and all the circumstances 
with which he has surrounded us, while keeping 



AGAINST THE GOD OF^ MOSES. 211 

himself personally and the future entirely con- 
cealed from us, most clearly mark, point out and 
define our proper and appropriate sphere of duty 
and field of action. It is all limited and confined 
to this life and our oion race. This field is par- 
ticularly adapted to the cultivation of Charity, 
for which there is a broad market and a large 
demand, and diligent employment in it, limits the 
whole duty of man. 

Therefore, laying aside all attempts to pry into 
the future, or impiously to encroach and trespass 
upon the grounds that God, doubtless for wise 
reasons, has chosen so effectually to close against 
us, trusting that he is competent and fully able to 
carry on his own government, without any aid or 
assistance from us, and having the field for hu- 
man exertion so clearly opened and spread out 
before us, and our duties so clearly pointed out 
and defined, let all rally under the broad, stream- 
ing banner of Charity, and join heart and hand 
in patient, persevering, self-denying, and vigorous 
exertion, to elevate, even up, equalize and im- 
prove the conditions of men, and to promote the 
wellbeing, comfort and happiness of all in this 
life, and leave all else to God. 

Whether there be any conscious existence for 
man after this life, or whether the soul, with the 
death of the body, at once vanishes into nothing- 
ness, like the extinguished flame of a lamp, it is 



212 VINDICATION OF THE TRUE GOD 

not given us to know. We must recognize the 
existence of a " bourn from whence no traveler 
returns," and from whence no knowledge ever 
came to man. All beyond is a most profound 
secretjConcealed in the bosom of God alone. But 
although mortal eyes are not permitted to pen- 
etrate the veil that obscures the great Beyond, 

still 

** This pleasing hope, this fond desire, 
This longing after immortality " 

which stir within us may be the true premonitors 
of our future destiny. Reason and philosophy 
encourage the hope. It may be, as soon as the 
grim messengjer takes this " mortal coil '' to his 
gloomy mansions, that the soul at once awakens 
to a new existence, and freed from all earthly 
entanglements is ineffably delighted with a per- 
sonal acquaintance with God, and a better and 
eternally increasing knowledge of his works and 
ways. This is and can be known only to God 
himself, and it is vain for us to try to fathom the 
secret. Our sphere, and the only field in which 
we can labor to any purpose, is limited to our 
present state and our own race. But with all our 
duties to ourselves and towards our fellow men 
fully and faithfully performed in this life, Hope 
may plume her wings to soar above the bounds 
of time, and from a lofty eminence luatch for the 
dawning of a more glorious and eternal day. 



VINDICATION 



OP 



The True God 



AGAINST 



The God of Moses, 



BY 



GEORGE E. KING. 



SAN FRANCISCO. 

PUBUSHED BY THE AUTHOR. 
1895. 



■/- / IS 



'V ¥V\fW' 9^V 



,j-vv 






yvw 



W^'^b^^^' 






^^i-vB 









-I'l/V^VV 



,u'VV 






v^S€^^^,^^^i 









iHl^fc^#iip^^^^ 



V*WvV^' 






,^,^^***'^5J^^ 



5t?fc^ 






ywy 



mmmmmmms 



jv^vJ^v-^^^yVW'ywgw* 



C.^^S>fH 



m 



'^V'V^^f, 



A,^W)^^vli! 



^^ 



,^\^g^^y. 



;VW''V; A'V 



vvyuv^^^^^^w^^^ww^ 






sww^^^;^ww 






Wr/.^)VV' 






^u2*5g':;^- 



.^^^^yyyt^w 



V^c:^^'. 



m^m 



m^m^d^ 



■'i\/m^^\ 






S-i/'v 



'j^^e^c)^io-pc>vucvu,j^^i>^' 



Zv;:; ,C>'^"^ •■^^^'^ ^y^C^^ ;U^ A ,Vi 'VVi 



vv^vv^, ■ ^ v^'^y^^vvi/v. Vv : 






yy^y^y^lfy^^! 



^mHm'^^^% 



':jrM'jsi,Ny::,^^yW 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS ^ 

i:illl!lll:llllllli:lllir 

029 789 033 5 




